Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX
by RAfan2421
Summary: The Rewrite of Bleeding Red and Gold. Daphne Greengrass, in her final (repeated) year at Hogwarts, has been contracted to Ronald Weasley. She just hoped to finish school quietly, pursue a Potions career, and marry who she wanted. However, in every cloud, there is a silver lining, and Daphne finds that this Marriage Contract might not be that bad. AU, Post-War Rated M for language.
1. Chapter 1

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX**

**After not revisiting Bleeding Red and Gold for over four months while real life took me on a roller coaster of emotions, I came back, and was pretty dissatisfied with the results. I posted Chapter 18, but looking back, the story wasn't going the way I wanted it to. So, therefore, I'm rewriting it. Simple as that. There's going to be a lot of changes from the original. In fact, by the time I get to Chapter 18, there's probably going to be little to nothing that resembles the original. If you were a fan of the original, then I hope this one is better. If you disliked the original, well, I hope you give this a shot. This story was written in order to make the story less confusing, and answer a lot of questions, as well as clear up a lot of garbage that was going nowhere. I hope you all enjoy.**

**I sincerely thank each and every one of you who has supported my writing thus far. You guys are the best. I think that I may have took your criticism of the original too hard, and I may have been a little short-tempered. I'm sorry about that, and I will attempt to mediate my temper. **

**I reemphasize some points here: I am not bashing Ron. Harry is NOT a God. And some characters that appeared in the original may never appear here.**

**The best way to contact me is through PM. I DO read your reviews, but sometimes they are just… not worth responding to. Let's leave it at that.**

**Without further ado, here is the rewrite of Bleeding Red and Gold.**

**EDITED: 7-18-2014 **

**Thanks wisebeyondyears for betaing.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Dear Mr. Potter,

The Staff of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has been tasked by the Ministry of Magic to offer a repeat year for all students year 1 through 7 because of the improper curriculum used in the last year before the end of the War. The original first year students will remain in their house and new students will be sorted and become first years as well. It is required for all students to repeat the year if they wish to pass and move on to a higher year, and take any tests such as the Ordinary Wizarding Level Tests or the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. Enclosed is a list of supplies and a train ticket for the train that will depart at exactly 11:00 A.M. from platform nine and three-quarters should you wish to repeat Year 7. We wish you the best.

Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Headmistress

Harry Potter was, to the casual observer, a normal young adult striding down Charing Cross Road. He was, to the non-magical population of Great Britain, a normal British citizen. Tall, fit, with his customary unruly hair and bright emerald eyes, he walked with his friends around him, namely a red-haired, gangly young man, Ron Weasley, and a pretty brunette witch, Hermione Granger. He garnered some attention from the women walking down the street, who discreetly ogled his rather fine physique. But, he was, in essence normal in the non-magical world. And that was what he preferred.

The trio of friends entered the Leaky Cauldron, a rather popular, albeit slightly run-down pub that had recently reopened for business after it had closed down during the rather nasty and economy-destroying Second Wizarding War. They walked to the back of the shop with a nod and a smile at the ever-present landlord, Tom. Tapping on the bricks in the back, they stood back as they watched Diagon Alley emerge. Before walking inside, Harry rapped himself hard on the head with his wand, and felt the familiar feeling of something running down the back of his shirt. The mild Disillusionment charm would hopefully suffice to hide himself from any of the ever-present reporters from hounding him. Especially Witch Weekly. Harry shook his head. He was eighteen, for Merlin's sake. In the Muggle world, he had just reached majority. He really didn't want to pose for any of their photo shoots, especially when he heard about the amount of clothing he would be wearing, or rather, the lack of it.

Ron, who during his school years, had often complained about being poor, finally had enough money for brand-new school supplies for himself and his younger sister Ginny, as he had received a large sum of money from the Ministry that was, in essence, confiscated money from known Death Eaters such as the Malfoy family, who had been sentenced to Azkaban.

Contrary to popular belief, Harry and Ginny had actually not resumed their relationship status after the war ended, to the delight of many witches. She was still hurt by him breaking up with her during Dumbledore's funeral, despite his reasons, and she wasn't ready for another relationship with him. In the end, she had decided to focus on her Quidditch skills, and was hoping she could make the cut and become a professional Quidditch player as soon as she left Hogwarts. A big ambition, to be sure, but Harry knew that Ginny was one hell of a Chaser, and that if anyone could make it, she could.

Harry was actually rather glad about the way their relationship had ended. Spending nine months in a tent with nothing to do really did help one think, and Harry had thought quite a lot about his relationship with Ginny, and had come to the conclusion that he didn't really love Ginny. At least, not in the way that a boyfriend should love his girlfriend. He'd realized that all he ever felt for Ginny was more of a sibling kind of love, and he now saw her as nothing more than a sister, and a good friend.

As the trio neared Gringotts, two young woman strode out of the bank. One was bouncing on the balls of her feet and seemed as if she couldn't wait to say something, whereas the other looked, to any casual observer, as if she was a doll. A perfect, porcelain doll. With a jolt, Harry recognized the girls as classmates and peers. Their names were Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis, two Slytherins in his year whom he had seen in class before, but never ever approached or talked to, and for good reason. Daphne was the Ice Queen of the school, feared for her icy glares and for her knowledge of rather painful hexes and accurate aim at an offending boy's private regions. Tracey was Daphne's best, and it seemed like only, real true friend. Harry never before had understood why Daphne chose to hide behind her mask, as he had never found her to be particularly attractive, but now, he was kicking himself for never paying attention to the gorgeous, blonde beauty who was walking away a hundred meters or so away.

'It had to be the school robes.' Harry mused to himself. 'They cover everything.'

Beside him, Ron's eyes were bulging, and it looked as if it was taking all of his self-control not to go up and do something rash like he did while trying to find a date to the Yule Ball.

Casting glances at Hermione and Harry, he whispered, "Who are they?"

Hermione, who had, up until now, not been paying any attention to her two friends as she was busy watching Florean Fortescue's son working hard to reopen his father's Ice Cream Parlour, turned, saw Ron's expression, followed his gaze, saw the girls, and snorted.

She turned to Harry, who while not having as ridiculous of an expression as Ron, still looked enthralled by the girls.

Hermione snorted and said, "Boys."  
Harry was in shock. "She changed so much! What happened to her? She never, ever looked like.. well- that."

Ron rounded on his mate, "Will you tell me who the bloody hell that is?!"

Harry cringed at his rather loud voice. Thankfully, the two girls had already walked a fair distance away, although Tracey Davis did turn around and give Harry an appraising look before turning back and continuing to walk with her friend.

"That's Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis, Ron. They were in our Potions class for six years."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed, Harry, I didn't know that you paid attention to any Slytherin except Malfoy."

Harry shrugged off her comment.

Ron was still staring after the gorgeous blonde and her attractive friend.

"Why can't they be in Gryffindor?"

Harry laughed at that. Trust Ron to let House divisions decide his opinions on everyone.

The trio proceeded into Gringotts to retrieve their gold. Unfortunately for them, they were being held responsible for the escaped dragon and the damages done to the bank despite the circumstances and the ongoing war. Thankfully, the goblins did not demand much in the ways of compensation: only the sword of Gryffindor, which was already returned, and two thousand Galleons for the escaped dragon. Damages done to Gringotts property had already been covered by the Ministry as compensation, so Harry did not need to pay for any repairs needed to fix the damage that the dragon had caused while flying out of Gringotts.

After exiting Gringotts, they proceeded through Diagon Alley, purchasing the supplies needed for the upcoming school year. Harry also bought a new Nimbus 2001, as his old Firebolt was lost during his flight from the Dursleys. It brought back painful memories, as the broom was a gift from his dead godfather, and Moody had also died trying to help Harry escape. Shaking off these dark thoughts, he decided to enter Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. After all, George Weasley was always able to lighten the mood, despite having lost his twin brother.

**oOo**

"Daphne! Come down to the study, there is something important I must tell you." Her father called.

With a sigh and an apology to her best friend Tracey, Daphne headed down the stairs. She and Tracey had been talking about how the Golden Trio, of all people, were the latest in a long line of admirers of Daphne. Daphne had told Tracey in no uncertain terms that she really didn't need the drama of having the Gryffindor Golden Boy and his little sidekick chase after her. She was hoping to get an "Outstanding" on her Potions NEWT, and she wanted to be able to return to Hogwarts someday and teach Potions. She knew that Slughorn would most likely retire soon. As there were very few competent potion brewers in their generation, for even she admitted that Snape was an absolutely terrible teacher, she knew that she would not have much competition over the post of Potions mistress. Still, she needed to work hard, and having the attention of the Wizarding World on her if the Chosen One started chasing after her was definitely not a good thing. She hoped that Tracey would be able to deter them. After all, Tracey was much more sociable than she was, and she was also good at dissuasion and distraction. Even a little bit of manipulation if the situation required it. In the end, Daphne had faith that her friend would be able to turn away her admirers, as she had done so many times in the past.

Daphne headed down to the study, lost in her thoughts. As she entered, she was surprised to see not only her father, but her mother in the room as well. Generally, 'important' things, which was really just a fancy word for Pureblood things, was handled by her father.

"What is it?" Daphne said, getting straight to the point.

"Daphne, this is a marriage contract." Her mother started.

Daphne's face paled instantly. "You didn't…"

Her father sighed. "You are in a marriage contract. This was originally not our idea. A few days ago, I found a contract in our vault. It had been signed by your great-grandfather, who had negotiated this deal. Apparently, it stated that a marriage must be made between the families of Greengrass and…"

Daphne narrowed her eyes. "Who am I contracted to? And why didn't somebody before me already marry and fulfill the contract if this was from my Great-Grandfather's time?"

Daphne's mother, Lyla, cut in here, "You are contracted to Ronald Weasely."

Daphne choked when she heard this, and spluttered, "WEASEL? Why? What the hell Mom, Dad? Why?"

Cyrus Greengrass knew his daughter would take it badly, and rightly so. Ronald Weasely, in his opinion, was an absolute pig, a blood traitor, Gryffindor, and as bad at magic as a Squib. He didn't wish to give his daughter to that prat. Unfortunately, the marriage contract explicitly stated that the eldest eligible daughter of the Greengrass family was to be joined with the eldest eligible son of the Weasley family. At first, Cyrus was sure that it would be one of the two eldest sons, Bill or Charlie, but that idea had gone down the drain. Bill had gotten married to the Veela, Fleur Delacour. He was out of the picture. Charlie had gone off to Romania to tame dragons. As such, he had also escaped the contract as the contract had stated under the eligibility clause that the person had to be living in England when they reached age 21. Charlie had not. He had left England and rarely came back ever since he graduated. Percy Weasley had gotten engaged to one Penelope Clearwater. Fred Weasley had died. George Weasley had also gotten engaged to his once teammate, Angelina Johnson. In reality, most of the Weasleys, trying to find solace in their lives after the tragedies that struck their family, had realized how important their romantic partners were, and now they were all either engaged or married. This left only Ronald to fulfill the contract.

While Lyla explained everything, Cyrus was racking his brains on how to get his daughter to at least tolerate the youngest Weasley, as the marriage was inevitable, unless one of them died. However, the contract had ensured that neither side could kill the other in an attempt to get out of the marriage. This made it impossible for Cyrus to "dissolve" the marriage.

Daphne was stunned. She had just learned that she was obligated to marry Weasley, one whom she considered the biggest idiot at Hogwarts. She also despised the way that he had been looking at her earlier that day. It was like she was a piece of meat and he was a dog. At least Potter had some decency and didn't drool over her. She wordlessly turned and ran out of her parent's study, up the stairs, and threw herself onto the bed. Tracey took one look at Daphne, and realized that something was wrong. She walked over quickly and sat next to Daphne's form.

"Daphne, what's wrong?"

"My stupid parents contracted me to the WEASEL!" Daphne sobbed.

"This is a joke right? This is a really bad joke? Haha, Daphne, very funny. Now tell me what really happened." Tracey weakly replied, already feeling bad for her friend.

"I thought it was going to be the stupid ferret, and that I'd have to go fetch him out of prison or something to marry him! Then, my mom said 'Ron Weasley'. Why can't my life go the way I want it to for once?! I just want to live my life without any gods damned interference! What the hell does Fate have against me?"

Tracey had nothing to say. It was known throughout Hogwarts that Ron Weasley was an ignorant prat who used the walking magical encyclopedia Granger to barely scrape a passing grade in his classes. After their falling-outs, everybody could see Ron suffer the displeasure of his teachers because of his failed schoolwork. His multiple detentions and point deductions made it obvious to all. The fact that Daphne Greengrass, one of the hottest girls in the school, was contracted to that idiot had only one single benefit: the jealousy of all the boys in the school. Tracey expected quite a few hexes aimed at the redhead this year, but she couldn't help but feel for her best friend.

All Tracey could do was offer comfort to her friend. The shock was wearing off, replaced by anger and a determination to break the contract.

**oOo**

**Thank you for reading. Please Review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 2**

**I don't need reviews telling me you're going to leave the story. Just press the red "X" at the top right corner of the screen. **

** Sorry to those who actually enjoy and support the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Ron Weasley was daydreaming. He could still see that beautiful goddess, one Daphne Greengrass from yesterday in his mind's eye. As his imagination wandered, he could see her smiling at him, and he grinned back in what he hoped was a charming manner. Daphne placed a hand on his chest, and drew ever closer—

"Earth to Ronald!" Hermione said, waving her hand in front of Ron's face.

Ron jumped, his daydream shattered, and glared at his best friend.

"What?"

"What on Earth could you be thinking about so deeply Ron? I've never known you to think deeply about anything. Not even Quidditch!"

Harry, who was propped up on his bed reading Flying with the Cannons for perhaps the tenth time, snorted, and said, "I'm betting he hasn't forgotten about Daphne Greengrass, yet, right mate?"

Ron took on a shade of red, and mumbled, "Yeah. She's so pretty, no not even pretty. She's probably the hottest girl in all of Hogwarts."

Hermione shook her head, and muttered, "Boys."

Harry looked up from his book.

"You still haven't gotten over her yet Ron?"

"What do you mean? I'm not even dating her! You're acting like we broke up or something!"

"Well, you do seem to be rather preoccupied with thoughts about her, and you always seem to be brooding. Perhaps there's some sort of sordid affair here that we don't know about." Hermione joined in the teasing.

Ron turned scarlet, and tried to jinx Hermione. '_Levicorpus.'_

Hermione merely smirked and flicked her wand, deflecting the curse, before casting a Jelly-Legs jinx at Ron that he was unprepared for. He promptly collapsed onto his face.

"My, my, so unsteady on your feet, mate. I'm sure that Daphne would be so proud if her future husband couldn't take more than two steps without keeling over." Harry smirked.

"Sod off." Ron grumbled, as he muttered the countercurse.

Just then, from downstairs, they heard Mrs. Weasley calling to them, and Ron opened the door in order for them to hear her clearly.

"Ronald, dear, we have something to tell you about your future!" Mrs. Weasley didn't sound particularly happy when she said this, and the trio looked at each other with a measure of apprehension.

"Harry, Hermione, dinner is about to be served. Why don't the three of you come downstairs."

"We're coming Mrs. Weasley." Harry replied, and shrugged his shoulders at his two friends.

**oOo**

When Ron entered the kitchen, with Harry and Hermione following close behind, he found his Mum setting up the table for nine, and with a pang of grief, he realized that Fred's customary seat had been taken away. Ron still missed his brother, despite the fact that the twins had made him do all sorts of incredibly humiliating and dumb things in the past. He felt even worse when he realized that George wasn't here, and the twins were generally the life and soul of these gatherings. Nowadays, George buried himself in his work at the joke shop, and he didn't seem to be putting as much effort into pranks anymore. It was almost as if he was doing them simply because he thought that that was what most people expected of him, and not because he actually enjoyed causing mischief anymore. The war had indeed scarred everybody, and nobody was immune from the pain.

"What did you want to talk to me about, Mum?"

"Hold on dear." Mrs. Weasley said, as she waved her wand, causing a jug of butterbeer, the butter, and a loaf of bread to fly to the table. A knife followed quickly, which began to slice the bread and spread butter upon the slices.

"Come with me. Harry dear, could you please make sure nothing burns while I'm away. If it does, I trust you can fix it."

"No problem, Mrs. Weasley." Harry, having had to cook for the Dursleys during the time he spent there, was actually a fairly competent cook. Magic just made cooking infinitely easier for him. Admittedly he was curious about what "future" that Ron would have, but he did understand that it was probably private. Thus, he turned his attention to the stove, and made sure that whatever was cooking there wasn't about to burn.

Ron followed his mother out of the kitchen and into the living room. There, his father sat on the couch, holding a piece of fancy paper in his hand and looking quite anxious and worried. His mother joined him. Ron preferred to stand, seeing the couch already almost filled, and remembering an uncomfortable conversation where he, Harry, and Hermione sat on that very couch, squeezed together, as they listened to the Last Will and Testament of Albus Dumbledore from Rufus Scrimgeour, then Minister of Magic.

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about, Dad? What does it have to do with my future?" Ron asked, curious.

"Ronald, you were entered into a marriage contract." His father said heavily.

"What? When? How come you never told me?" Ron was shocked and outraged. How could his parents have kept something that important from him for this long? He'd had a relationship with both Lavender and Hermione for Merlin's sake, and now they deigned to tell him?

"We didn't know, Ronnie dear." Mrs. Weasley said.

Ron turned a brilliant shade of orange at the nickname that his mother had used since he was young.

"What? You didn't enter me into this contract?"

"No, it was entered by your great-grandfather."

"Who Mum? Please don't tell me it's Eloise Midgeon or someone ugly like that." Ron still hadn't reconciled with the fact that Eloise Midgeon did not look that bad anymore, as her acne and her nose had been fixed up by Madam Pomfrey quickly.

"Ronald, don't judge a girl by her looks! How many times do I have to tell you that?!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.

Ron mumbled, "Sorry."

"Anyways, no it's not Eloise Midgeon."

"She's very pretty, Ronald. Just…a bit cold and dark." Mr. Weasley said.

"Who? Can you get to the point and tell me who it is?"

"Daphne Greengrass." Said Mrs. Weasley.

Ron shook his head, knowing there was no way he heard correctly. Was Fate messing with him?

"I'm sorry. I thought you'd just said Daphne Greengrass. Come again?"

Mrs. Weasley looked at him strangely. "You heard correctly. You, or rather, our family, has been entered into a marriage contract with the Greengrasses. This contract is set to expire in about two yeas as the deadline is rapidly approaching. As you are the last son "eligible" in our family to be married to the Greengrasses, you are the one fulfilling the contract. I'm very sorry Ronald, and I've looked into ways to break the contract, but it simply can't be done."

Ronald felt a bit light-headed after that.

"I think I need to sit down."

**oOo**

Ron collapsed onto the couch. Harry looked at him strangely, taking in his pale face, and determined that something must have shocked Ron to the core in that room.

He came up to him and whispered, "Mate, are you alright? What happened?"

Ron lifted his eyes to look at him, and said, "I'm betrothed."

Harry, in confusion, said, "When? I never saw you proposing to anybody?"

Ron mentally kicked himself. Of course Harry wouldn't know much about Wizarding customs and Marriage Contracts.

"Harry, in the Wizarding World, we still do things the "old way", as Muggles might call it. Our parents can still enter us into Marriage Contracts, and we'd be forced by our magic to marry our partner."

"That's barbaric! I never knew your mother or father had it in them to do that to you. They were always so kind." Now Hermione was glaring at the Weasley parents, but Ron quickly waved his hands to tell her to stop.

"It wasn't my mum or dad. Sometimes these contracts can be passed down from generations. This one was actually created by my Great Grandfather about 200 years ago."

"Who is it to?"

Then, the full meaning of what his mother had just told him finally sunk in. The beautiful, no insanely _HOT_, girl he had seen in Diagon Alley was his betrothed.

"Daphne Greengrass." He said breathlessly.

Harry immediately smirked, and said, "Alright there, mate? Not too overwhelmed by the news? I'm sure that now you can cause whatever mental images you had of her to become true!"

Ron glared at him. "You're just jealous."

Harry frowned, "While I do admit that she is very beautiful, and that I might be just a tiny bit jealous, but I'd prefer to know who I'm getting married to instead of being forced to marry someone, no matter how beautiful they are."

Hermione smiled approvingly at him, but inside she was rather hurt. She had thought that she and Ron had something, especially considering their relationship throughout the hunt for Horcruxes. Now, he was in stuck in a contract with another witch, and a Slytherin at that. She was also really hot, and Hermione knew that in Ron's book, looks counted for a lot. Hermione would never be able to compare to the beauty of Daphne Greengrass.

Just then, Ron's parents came over, and Harry and Hermione automatically stepped back, letting Ron's parents talk to him. Afterwards, Percy came and dragged her to the library where he had a couple of questions about his slightly less boring work about the money exchange between Galleons and British pounds. Hermione was the only one he could ask since Harry had never really had any Muggle money before, his aunt and uncle having done their utmost to deny Harry anything other than what was absolutely needed to keep him alive. The work was slightly more interesting than the regulations on the thickness of cauldron bottoms, but it still put Hermione to sleep sometimes, which was hard considering that she held the record of longest time awake in Professor Binns' class at Hogwarts. That stopped the conversation that Hermione wanted to have with Ron about their relationship. She was fairly sure what the conclusion would be anyways.

**oOo**

The shock of the marriage contract had slowly gotten away, replaced by both apprehension and excitement. On one hand, there was a reason Daphne was the Ice Queen of Slytherin. At least Ron was protected from ever being killed by her as the Marriage Contract forbade killing between the partners in order to free themselves from the contract. That didn't mean that Daphne couldn't castrate him or do something far worse, though. On the other hand, Ron was quite excited by the prospect of meeting, and getting to know the hottest girl in Slytherin. Nobody else had ever attempted to do this, as those who showed the remotest interest in her were warned off by that friend of hers, Tracey Davis. And the few that persisted were usually sent to the infirmary for a couple of days.

"Still thinking about your beloved, mate?" Harry asked, smirking.

Ron groaned. Harry had spent the better part of the last couple of days teasing him to no end about his reaction to the marriage contract, and specifically the girl involved in the contract.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, I will hex you if you make one more comment about Daphne."

"Strange, I'd like to think that people would talk about their beloved more. You don't seem to want to talk about her. It's almost as if this crushed your dream. Which dream was it, your dream to marry Malfoy and grow blonde hair?"

Ron raised his wand threateningly. "You do know I'm about to hex you."

"With your magical ability? I'd be more worried about the wall."

And Ronald Weasley spent the rest of that day without a wand, as he'd managed to hit an incoming Hermione with the "Furnunculus Hex." Hermione had rapidly retaliated, and Ron had succumbed to multiple jinxes and hexes by the time Mrs. Weasley showed up on the scene. After berating her son for being so childish, she took his wand from him for the day.

**oOo**

**Thank you for reading. Please Review.**

** The story will start to diverge from the original soon. Please do not make any silly assumptions as to where this story is going.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 3**

**Always open to constructive criticism. How do you think the story has developed so far? Is it better or worse than the original?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Simple as that.**

**oOo**

The last few weeks of summer flew by. Harry spent most of his time playing two-a-side Quidditch like the old days, where he also tried out his new Nimbus 2001. While it did not have the burst of speed that his old Firebolt had, he still thought that it was an excellent broom and that he would be able to do quite well with the broom in his Quidditch matches this year.

Today, however, Harry was lost in thought, floating in the Weasley's orchard. He was thinking about his best friend's betrothal. He honestly wasn't sure about his feelings about it. His most base of natures was jealous that his friend had scored a really hot girl as his betrothed. His logical side felt bad for Ron, because he could no longer choose who he wished to marry.

Harry had little to no knowledge of marriage contracts. All he was thankful for was that he himself had never been entered into one. He was fairly sure that they were unbreakable, as both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had seemed resigned to marrying off their youngest son to a family which they considered "Dark" and pureblood bigots. In fact, if Mr. Weasley had his way, he'd probably insist that Ron marry a Muggleborn so that he'd learn more about the Muggle world in his continued obsession with Muggle objects.

Knowing this, Harry resolved to approach both Daphne and Tracey in an effort to befriend them. He knew that he would have to get along with his future friend's wife, and he also wanted to bridge the gap between Gryffindor and Slytherin. He had done a lot of thinking after the war, and had resolved to try to unite the Houses of Hogwarts, especially after Narcissa Malfoy was thrown into jail even after she'd helped him in the final battle in the forest.

Harry just hoped that Daphne and Tracey would be as willing as he was to look beyond past slights and prejudices. She looked, after all, like a machine. Something dead. She didn't look as if she ever had any emotions or true feelings. So, he really had no idea what to expect from her. He did recall that she never participated in the insults and taunts that were so common from her House, but she never did care for any of the other Houses either. She was an enigma. Harry hated mysteries…

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard Ron calling to him from the ground.

"Harry! Mate, you're about to rise above the treeline. Get down before the Muggles see you and we violate the Statute of Security, you idiot!"

Harry shook himself out of his reverie in time to right his broom.

"Hey mate, what are you doing? I thought Hermione dragged you inside to finish all the homework that you still hadn't done?" Harry asked.

That morning, Hermione had asked the two of them if they'd gotten their homework done. Harry, who had renounced his procrastination as the war with Voldemort loomed closer, had finished his homework two weeks after the homework list had come in from the teachers at Hogwarts. Ron, on the other hand, still hadn't completely gotten rid of his procrastination habits, and was thus confined to the attic finishing his homework while Hermione read ahead for the year.

"I finished." Ron replied proudly.

"Really? I was under the impression that you had a lot of work to do."

"Yeah, and I finished. I decided to come down here to join you. Catch!" Ron pointed his wand at a nearby apple and it shot straight at Harry's face, who effortlessly maneuvered his broom out of the way and caught hold of the apple.

He grinned arrogantly, "You didn't honestly think that was going to hit me, did you?"

Ron grumbled, "Show off."

Just then, they were joined by Ginny and Hermione, who had both brought brooms. Despite the fact that Hermione was absolutely dreadful at Quidditch, she was dragged out every time to play two-a-side Quidditch, and just spent the majority of the game trying to dodge apples instead of catch them. Harry, however, was quite good at catching apples naturally, due to his Seeker abilities.

"Hey Ron, your dad told me to tell you to be ready to meet the Greengrasses in Diagon Alley tomorrow. They want to go over the contract, restrictions, stipulations, and all that with both you and Daphne there." Hermione said, still clutching her book in one hand while holding a Cleansweep Five in the other.

Ron groaned, already apprehensive of what would happen the next day. He wasn't stupid, he knew that Daphne would probably hate him. Just like he still considered marrying her distasteful. She may not have been a part of Voldemort's Death Eaters, but Slytherin never produced Light witches or wizards. The fact that Daphne was the Ice Queen certainly didn't help matters. Ron would like to have children, thank you very much. Although, Ron was fairly sure that he'd never be able progress anywhere close to that stage with Daphne.

The four of them played Quidditch until they heard Mrs. Weasley calling them for dinner. Harry ended up with the most apple catches, but Hermione ended with nothing, leading to Ron and Ginny emerging victorious. Harry had long since given up on trying to convince Hermione to try and catch instead of dodge the apples, and instead just tried to catch for her.

Dinner was yet another huge meal with multiple courses of absolutely delectable cooking. Harry stuffed himself as he listened to Ron, Charlie, and Bill talk about the Quidditch League and the Cannons.

Harry had never understood how Ron could like the Cannons. They really did stink up the pitch. Their Seeker currently was holding the record of longest streak of matches without catching a Snitch, and the drought hadn't ended. The Chasers could manage no more than perhaps four goals a match, and the Keeper looked like an average Hogwarts player, not a professional. He personally preferred the Falmouth Falcons, as they were at least perennial contenders for the championship, despite not having won a title for twenty years.

Mr. Weasley pulled Harry, Ron, and Hermione aside after dinner.

"Tomorrow, we're going to be going to the newly reopened Ice Cream Parlour that Florean's son managed to reopen. I want all of you to be on guard. They won't try to kill or kidnap any of you, but I know that girl's reputation, and well, protect yourself."

All three nodded, and Mr. Weasley smiled and sent Harry and Hermione upstairs to shower and get ready for bed, pulling Ron with him as he needed to discuss the contract in depth with him.

Harry's thoughts drifted as he headed up the stairs. He was very curious as to who Daphne Greengrass really was. He also wanted to get to know Tracey Davis, as she seemed to be less cold and friendlier than her frosty friend. He was also fairly interested in the contract itself. He had never heard of marriage contracts before, as even in the Muggle world, contracts were usually done through word of mouth and not actually written down. Penalties also generally were monetary returns and not devastating like loss of magic in the Wizarding World.

As he settled into bed, Harry wondered what life would be like for Ron with a cold, unloving, beautiful wife. And he wondered if, beneath the doll mask, if there might be something…human.

**oOo**

**The edited version of this chapter turned out shorter than usual. Oh well. Like I said, the story will begin to diverge soon. Namely when they reach Hogwarts. Because that's where everything changes. Currently, I'm just fixing up the first few chapters and setting up the marriage contract on a more stable foundation.**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 4**

**Honestly, I haven't been this motivated to write in a long time. Thank you all for your support. It really does help.**

**Also, special thanks to a Guest reviewer who pointed out to me the plot hole in which Hedwig had died in canon, but remained alive in the original story. That has now been fixed.**

**You all probably will catch the Frozen references. Good for you!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

At ten o'clock exactly, Ginny, Ron, Harry, Hermione, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were standing by the fireplace of the Burrow. Harry groaned as he took a handful of Floo Powder. He looked at the fireplace apprehensively, knowing that he would regret it. Tossing the powder into the flames, he stepped in as he enunciated as clearly as he could,

"Diagon Alley."

After the usual, dizzy whirling through fireplaces, he came to a stop in the Leaky Cauldron, where he stepped out, and immediately tripped and fell flat on his face. Tom the barman, noticing his esteemed guest, immediately came over to help the young war hero to his feet. Harry's face turned red as he noticed the rather large audience that got to witness his fall. Thankfully, Rita Skeeter was not among the people seeing this. He could just imagine the front page. "War Hero Drunk in broad daylight!" He brushed the soot off his robes and waited for the others to arrive. Soon after, Ginny came whizzing through, followed by Ron, Hermione, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Harry watched enviously as they managed to step out of the fireplace without any evident balance issues.

"Alright, you've got about two hours for shopping before you've got to meet up with us at Florean's, got that?" Mr. Weasley said, as they watched the bricks of the wall open to reveal Diagon Alley.

With a chorus of "Yeses", they set off down the street. They had barely gone ten steps when they were stopped by Mrs. Weasley running after the three and fussing over them.

"You be careful now, and don't get into any trouble."

Ron groaned. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named had already been defeated, so he didn't really need his mother mother-henning him. He was a grown man, but sometimes, his mother just didn't know when to step back and let him live his life. He resigned himself to his mother's fussing, and it was a good twenty minutes before they finally set off.

When they finally set off, they headed towards Eeylops Owl Emporium. Ron needed owl treats, and Harry needed an owl, as Hedwig had died in his escape from the Dursleys, killed by a random killing curse. He looked through the entire shop, but couldn't find a perfect snow white owl, and he really couldn't bring himself to just purchase any old owl. He resolved to just use standard school owls if he ever needed to send letters. After all, the two Knut fee was nothing to him.

After spending nearly two hours of wandering the streets, stocking up on Potion ingredients, buying joke items from George's store, and in general preparing for the upcoming school year, they headed to Florean's. On the way, it was obvious Ron was getting nervous. Hermione and Ginny weren't helping much. After all, they were just getting back at Ron for all the insensitive things that he'd done. Karma really was a bitch sometimes.

"What if I accidentally brush up against her? I do want to leave children behind in this world, but maybe she doesn't? It'll be a perfect time to put an end to that." Ron voiced his greatest fear.

Harry and Hermione were smirking, while Ginny said, "Well, Ronald, we're certainly hopeful that you don't leave any children behind, because they would be a curse to society. Especially considering how you turned out. We'll secretly be hoping that you brush up against her, hope you don't mind."

Ron glared at Ginny, then turned his gaze on Harry and Hermione. Hermione tried to cover up her smile and look innocent, but Harry's smirk merely became more pronounced.

"All of you can die slowly." Ron said.

Harry laughed. "Ron, don't lie, you were thrilled when you heard about the contract. Having second thoughts now?"

Ron glared at him. "I'd like you to go meet the Ice Queen and not have second thoughts."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what I'm doing right now?"

Ron glared, turned on his heel, and strode off towards Florean's. Anything to get away from his three very "supportive" friends. Even the prospect of having to meet his future bride.

The three followed him, laughing all the way. However, as they neared the shop, their expressions became more somber, as they prepared themselves to meet a family that was at best, very political. Harry gripped his wand tightly under his robes, as he also put up his mediocre Occlumency shields. He had never let down his guard, even though Voldemort had been definitively defeated. As they entered the shop, they looked around, and saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley sitting at one of the benches along with four people. Mr. Weasley quickly beckoned them over to the table, and they walked over.

As they got closer, Harry took a better look at the girl who would one day become Ron's wife; the girl who had become legendary in their school for her incredibly painful hexes and jinxes that she used liberally to tell people to "Fuck off. I'm not interested."; the girl who was so cold and indifferent to the world that she looked like a glass doll, except when talking to her friend Tracey Davis; the girl who had earned her nickname, the Ice Princess, when some would-be suitors had to spend some quality time in the infirmary due to a severe case of frostbite in their private parts. Today, she looked just as beautiful as the day when they had ran into her near Gringotts. As they sat down, Cyrus Greengrass, a tall, intimidating man began to discuss the contract and specifically consequences for breaking the contract. Ron listened carefully, making sure that he wouldn't do something stupid and violate the contract regulations, the first time that he showed much interest in any speech by an adult. After all, he definitely didn't fancy losing his magic. He had lived his life relying on magic, and would be absolutely clueless to Muggle society should he ever lose his magic. Then, after the basics were covered, the discussion turned towards details, and even Hermione, the one who always paid attention to every little detail and listened to the most boring of lectures (Binns probably topped that list), couldn't take it anymore, and left with Ginny to explore some other shops in Diagon Alley.

Harry, on the other hand, actually decided to stay, and study Daphne Greengrass, as well as her younger sister Astoria. Daphne seemed doll-like as usual, her cold mask in place. Astoria looked as if she was bored. She also seemed rather sorry for her sister, and looked at Ron with disgust. Harry felt some anger stirring up inside him. Ron was a great friend. He had his faults, perhaps due to his five older brothers, but he had a good heart. He quelled the anger, as he was fairly sure that both sides had quite a few misguided views and prejudices of the other side. Harry was ready to look past them, but perhaps Daphne would need a lot more time, especially considering her mask and reputation.

After the clauses and details of the contract were explained, the adults finally stopped discussing the contract, and the discussion quickly ground to a halt. Daphne stood up to leave, but as she turned to leave, the perfect mask slipped, and Harry noticed the look of anguish marring her beautiful features. Harry was elated that he had been shown, for a moment, that the Ice Queen was a human, with human emotions. However, he was also worried. Did Daphne hate his best friend that much?

Meanwhile, Daphne looked like she knew that Harry had seen her moment of weakness, and struggled to regain her composure.

Harry tried to convey a sympathetic expression, but judging from Daphne's expression (she still hadn't gotten her mask back on yet), it obviously wasn't coming across.

Daphne was facing away from everybody, but Harry. She stared at him for a moment, eyes haunted, and she seemed torn. But after a moment of deliberation, she quickly left the ice cream parlour without so much as a goodbye to anybody.

**oOo**

Daphne ran into her friend Tracey outside of Quality Quidditch Supplies. One look, and Tracey could tell that Daphne was incredibly scared and confused. She took a closer look and saw that, for the first time in forever, her Ice Queen mask was off, and the human Daphne was out for everyone to see. Thankfully, it seemed that Daphne managed to get herself back under control before a total breakdown. The doll-like stare returned, and Tracey asked what she'd been dying to ask all this time.

"What happened? I thought you were supposed to be at the meeting with the Weasleys."

Daphne sighed.

"Weasley was easy to figure out. He just wanted me for the same reason as all my previous admirers did. At least he was wary. But Potter, now he was different. I think those "Remedial Potions" he took with Snape in Fifth Year was complete bogus. They had to be Occlumency lessons. Potter's no master, but I couldn't see his angle. And, at the end, I accidentally let my mask slip, and Potter saw. But he didn't react like I thought he would. He seemed actually sympathetic, instead of mocking."

Tracey frowned.

"Wait, Potter was there?"

"Yeah, the whole Golden Trio. Wasn't unexpected, after all, the three often did stay at the Weasleys didn't they?"

Tracey was curious how her friend knew so much and voiced her thoughts.

"Didn't you pay attention to how Potter and Granger generally arrived with the Weasleys? Besides, my father has done a little research on the Weasleys as well."

Just then, the two girls heard Daphne's parents calling for Daphne to join them, as they were returning to Greengrass manor. Daphne hurriedly said goodbye, and pleaded with Tracey to help her find a way out of the contract. Despite her father's insistence that the contract was unbreakable, Daphne refused to give up, and Tracey was more than willing to help her friend. After all, she herself couldn't even tolerate Weasley, so she couldn't imagine how hard it was for Daphne to accept the fact that she was going to be married to that prat.

With one last wave at her friend, Daphne disappeared into the Leaky Cauldron. With a heavy sigh, Tracey continued her shopping.

**oOo**

**I changed the ending of the meeting a lot. I hope you enjoyed.**

**For some reason, Chapter 3 was posted, but it didn't say that the story was updated, so if you're reading this, and you accidentally skipped Chapter 3, do go back and read it.**

**Thank you for reading. Please Review.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 5**

**I have no idea what's going on with Fanfiction. It doesn't say I updated when I updated twice with chapters 3 and 4. So, again, if you're wondering why something seems missing, do be sure to check if you skipped anything or not.**

** As always, reviews are welcome. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Harry was intrigued. He had seen the mask slip, and for once, the Ice Queen actually hadn't cursed him for seeing her in a moment of weakness. Perhaps his look of sympathy had actually gotten across to her. She had merely stared at him for a moment, before leaving. It was strange, but Harry now wanted, more than anything, to get to know the beautiful Slytherin girl. Call it his curiosity, or his thirst for adventure, or his need to "save" people, but he wanted to know what was wrong with Daphne. Was it really just the contract? Was Ron such a bad choice? Or was there more behind it?

Beside him, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were holding a hushed conversation.

"Arthur, they're a Dark family. I'm worried about Ronald. We've been hit by enough tragedies. I don't want another… Fred." Molly gulped.

Arthur quickly consoled her, and while soothing her, reminded her quietly that they were in public and to not worry the kids. Molly nodded and controlled herself with an effort.

"I know, dear, that the Greengrasses are far from ideal, but at least the contract does state that neither party can kill the contract member of the other. I just can't understand why my grandfather would do that. Why would he ever make a contract with the Greengrasses? Even more important, why did he keep it a secret?"

Molly sighed and shrugged.

"Let's go home. We can't change much about it anyways. Maybe we can look into some old books about Marriage Contracts, and find a way to break it?"

Arthur didn't have the heart to tell her that there was no way to the break the contract. At least, if Molly came to conclusion herself that the contract couldn't be broken, perhaps she would accept it. This was going to be a very difficult year. He just hoped that his rather short-sighted youngest son would be able to see past House prejudices and grow to be able to live peacefully with Greengrass.

**oOo**

Tracey Davis was feeling rather depressed, living alone, in a flat in Muggle London. She really didn't look down on the Muggles, as she was a Half-blood. She never did care for all the Pureblood bigotry in her house. In fact, she had secretly supported the Muggle-born Rights Movement. That had cost her dearly. One night, while she had been gone, the complete bitch Pansy Parkinson had searched her things, and found the letters that she had written to the leader of the Muggle-born Rights Movement, and soon she was completely ostracized by the House except for Daphne as a Muggle lover. It didn't help that she was a Half-blood. At least Daphne had supported her, and defended her, albeit subtly. Besides, nobody was willing to piss off the Ice Queen, so they generally left Tracey alone.

However, that all changed when the Dark Lord returned, and began to "put down" the blood traitors. One day, while in their repeated year at Hogwarts, she had received an official letter from the Voldemort-controlled Ministry that her parents had been found dead. She had spent the whole day crying in her dorm, and Daphne had put her friend's needs above her own, and did her best to comfort her. Daphne wasn't the greatest person at giving comfort, but the effort really did touch Tracey. Now she was all alone in the world, and her only family were her aunt and uncle.

They had moved to the United States the first time Voldemort came to power, declaring, "This pureblood bigotry and backwardness sickens me. We also don't want to be the next victims of that power-hungry moron. We're going to the U.S., where these pureblood practices had been outlawed a couple centuries ago."

Tracey had considered quite a few times to go to the States and find them, but had, in the end, decided against it. She had Daphne here, as well as Blaise. She had too many ties in England, and she wasn't ready to sever them in favor of starting a new life, no matter how appealing that option might seem.

Now, Daphne was the damsel in distress. Tracey resolved to do everything she could to help her friend, despite the fact that she didn't know that much about marriage contracts, having been brought up as a half-blood.

Tracey sighed. She really wished that her friend wasn't in this stupid contract. Before the contract, Daphne had always been a bit difficult to deal with at times, as her Ice Queen persona had been built up so perfectly that nobody had ever been able to crack them. Nobody ever tried to approach Daphne for any type of romantic conversation, let alone talk about dates and such. Sure, Daphne could be fun at times, when the mask dropped, which only happened when the two of them were alone. Tracey had never, ever seen her without that mask on in public. Now, she knew it would be even more difficult to get by this year, as Daphne would probably snap at anyone who tried to console her about the stupid contract, which would increase the tension, and bring unwanted attention to the two of them. It would be a difficult year, Tracey reflected, as she packed her school books into her trunk. As she took a shower, brushed her teeth, and climbed into her bed, she felt something that she had never felt before a school year started. Nervousness. She was worried sometimes at the start of every year over trivial matters. Did she forget any supplies? Did she forget the spells that she learned the year before? However, this year, it was more serious. It was focused on the reactions of the rest of the school to Slytherins. Ever since the war, Slytherins had mostly been lying low, unless you counted the select few that had supported the Potter and the "Light" side during the War. Daphne's coldness probably wouldn't have helped people's opinions of her either. Tracey made a note to speak to Daphne about lightening up a bit, since the threat of another marriage contract was impossible, and she would never even have a chance at happiness if she didn't at least get to know the Weasel and Potter and Granger.

Tracey was curious about Potter. Daphne was great at reading people. She was probably even better than Tracey herself, and Tracey had always prided herself on figuring out people's motives and actions. After all, you didn't survive long in the snake pit if you didn't have that skill.

Potter had, according to Daphne, seemed sympathetic to her plight. Perhaps he had seen more during the war than he had ever talked about to the reporters and biographers that had hounded him after the war in an effort to get a first-hand account of the war from the Boy-Who-Lived. Perhaps he was more willing to look past House lines due to the rumors that the Malfoys had saved him from certain death in Voldemort's hands. Whatever the reason, Tracey knew that she needed to talk to Potter that year. If anyone could help Daphne in this situation, it was Potter. Potter, after all, was famous enough that maybe, if he used his influence, he could find a way to annul the contract. Tracey felt that the Goblins had to have some sort of ritual to break a contract. They created these ironclad contracts, so they must have a way to break them. And only Potter probably had enough influence, gold, and power to figure out Goblin secrets, Tracey reasoned. After all, he managed to break into the deepest, most secure vaults in Gringotts and escaped on a flying dragon. What couldn't Potter do?

Tracey turned over. She resolved to talk to Potter on the train the next day.

**oOo**

Ginny was incredibly conflicted. She had, for her whole life, idolized the figure that was known to all as "The Boy who Lived." Then, incredibly, she had met him that day at Kings Cross station when Ron was about to start Hogwarts. She thought that she had fell in love at that very moment, and continued to chase after Harry desperately for the next four years. She had, at the start of her fourth year, begged Hermione to help her.

Hermione, ever the good friend, told her that she should date some other guys to see Harry's reaction. If he cared, then he would take notice of her and come to her. If he didn't care, then he would only be happy for her, and let her be.

Ginny felt guilty for leading on Michael and Dean the way she did. They didn't deserve being dumped. Okay, maybe Michael was an arsehole, but Dean was certainly a nice guy. Their relationship had been rocky because Ginny had been moody all year, thinking that Harry didn't like her the way she wanted, and that had permeated into their relationship. She had liked Dean, but, it wasn't the same as Harry.

Then, she was overjoyed when Harry kissed her after they had won the Quidditch Cup. They had gotten together, and that had been the best three months of her life. Unfortunately, it wasn't to last. Dumbledore had died, and the year had ended with Harry breaking up with her "for her safety."

She had been devastated, but, after thinking about their relationship for a year, and being apart from him, she had reconsidered their relationship. She had grown up, and gotten past her idolization of Harry. Now, when she looked back, she wasn't sure about her feelings for Harry.

Thus, she hadn't gotten back together with him. And surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, Harry had made no attempt to restart their relationship either. It was true, people did grow up and change. They were a testament to that fact.

Still, she needed to clear the air between them. It was still rather awkward, almost as if Harry expected Ginny to want to restart their relationship and was dreading it, and vice-versa for Ginny.

She found Harry lying on his bed, reading up on Marriage Contracts in some rulebook that Hermione must've lent him. Harry seemed much more studious after the war was over, and Ginny guessed that the war must've changed him quite a bit.

"Hey, Harry." She began.

Harry looked up and smiled.

"Hey Gin, was there something you wanted?"

Ginny took a deep breath.

"We need to talk."

**oOo**

**Yeah. Blaise isn't a dick in this story like in the original. Like I said, divergence…**

** I fixed it so that the characters that play a big role in this story are added to the "Characters" option in the story. I have no clue why that didn't happen when I first posted the story. That might be the reason why some of you couldn't find the story. **

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 6**

**If anyone is interested in betaing, do send me a PM. I'm not sure where my current beta went off to; he may be off on vacation, but having more than one beta is also helpful. So, if any of you are interested, PM and let's talk.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Harry followed Ginny to the living room of the Burrow, which was thankfully, deserted, except for Crookshanks who was currently sleeping on the couch. Deciding not to rile up the cat by waking it up, he motioned to Ginny to come to a far corner with him.

"So Gin, what did you want to talk about?" Harry asked with a questioning look in his gaze.

Ginny sighed. "I wanted to talk about our relationship, Harry. It's been really awkward being around you this whole summer."

"Ginny I don't know. I'm not sure about my feelings anymore, and it's not just towards you. I feel like I've changed so much from Sixth Year."

Ginny brightened. "That's a relief. I thought a lot about our relationship while you were away and I think that whatever feelings I had for you were more hero worship than actual love."

Harry smiled back. "That was my thought too. So, let's just remain friends for now, and if we ever fancy each other in the future, we can try again."

Ginny nodded. "Oh, it's so good to clear the air. It was such an awkward summer up until now."

Harry nodded in agreement.

Ginny looked coyly at Harry.

"Is there a special witch in your mind Harry?"

Harry's face turned red. "Wha—I don't know what you're talking about."

Ginny merely laughed. "It's OK. Liking Hermione isn't a crime after all, and she's not going to be getting together with Ron anytime soon, due to—"

Ginny was cut off by a choking sound coming from Harry, and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't like Hermione." Harry spluttered.

"I thought she was your best friend." Ginny teased.

Harry glared at her. "I like her as my best friend, not as a love interest. Merlin, Ginny, I can tell why Ron avoids your presence whenever Daphne comes up."

Ginny smirked. "Oh, so it's Daphne's that's got your attention now."

Harry just shook his head, and left the room.

Ginny merely shook her head and went to gather up her clothes and books to pack her trunk for the Hogwarts Express the next day. It wasn't until later that she realized, Harry had never denied her accusation.

**oOo**

September First dawned chilly and rainy. Daphne shivered as she got out of her bed, and entered her bathroom. After a meticulous shower, and a careful choice of flattering, but modest clothing for the ride to Hogwarts, she went downstairs to find her mother and father, as well as Astoria, already up and eating breakfast. She joined them, as her mother made sure that the two girls had everything they needed for the upcoming school year.

At ten-thirty precisely, Daphne and her father Apparated together to the Apparition Point set inside Platform Nine-and Three Quarters for both convenience and security reasons. Then, Astoria Apparted with her mother, complaining about the fact that she still had to use Side-Along Apparition, despite the fact that she knew how to Apparate. Daphne scanned the crowd, looking for Tracey, who was probably alone, as Blaise generally didn't join them until they all got on the train. While Daphne was disgusted by Blaise's many conquests, she tolerated him as he was very cunning, and held a lot of power in her House. He probably could've usurped Malfoy during their time at Hogwarts as the "King of Slytherin" if he'd wanted, but he was content sitting back in the shadows. Just like a perfect Slytherin.

Now, as she walked towards the train amonst so many other students, her Ice Queen Persona fell into place easily, and as she strode through the crowd with her trunk levitating behind her, parents and students of all years alike automatically moved aside for her. The icy aura she exuded was enough for everybody to get the message. Back off if you know what's good for you.

She entered the train, but she still hadn't caught sight of Tracey. Mentally shrugging, she knew that her best friend would come looking for her, and decided to just enter an empty compartment and begin reading one of the books on Marriage Contracts that she had "liberated" from her father's study. She doubted he'd mind. After all, he was just as disgusted by the marriage contract as she was.

The train started to move, and Tracey still hadn't shown up. Now Daphne was getting genuinely worried. Where was her best friend?

Just when she was about to leave the compartment and go and look for her best friend, she appeared, a happy smile on her face. Daphne was about to question why she was so happy, when she caught sight of who was standing behind her. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw her friend dragging none other than Harry Potter, the Gryffindor Golden Boy, himself into their compartment, before locking the door, placing a privacy ward around them, and pulling down the shades.

**oOo**

_Earlier:_

Harry bade his friends goodbye as they went off to the annual prefect meeting. The fact that Hermione was Head Girl made it even more important for them to arrive to the meeting promptly and to set up patrol schedules for all the prefects. As he watched them go, he turned to Ginny.

"D'you want to find a compartment, Ginny?"

Ginny looked apologetic. "Sorry Harry, I'd promised to meet up with Luna about something. I don't think she wanted anyone else there. I'll come find you later."

Harry nodded in understanding, and resigned himself to finding a compartment alone until Ron, Hermione, and Ginny got back.

Unfortunately, he really didn't like searching for an empty compartment. Especially since he was now even more famous than ever, and everybody wanted to catch a glimpse of him. Walking down the corridor was not an option, as he could already see some girls planning on accosting him when he walked in that direction.

Just as he was deliberating about what to do, he felt a cloak thrown over his body, a soft, feminine body pressed into his side, and a hand on his mouth. Just as he was about to go for his wand, he caught sight of his attacker and nearly had a heart attack.

The brown eyes of Tracey Davis were staring right back at him. She put a finger to her lips, and Harry, now seeing that she meant him no harm, and the cloak around them was an Invisibility Cloak, nodded. Tracey removed her hand from his mouth, grabbed his arm, and pulled him down the corridor right before his fan girls mobbed the spot where he'd disappeared.

When they found a deserted corridor, Tracey finally spoke up in a whisper, " I need your help Potter."

Harry frowned. "This is a strange way to request help."

Tracey smacked him on the arm. "Potter, Daphne and I need your help. I don't want to see my best friend married to Weasel, sorry Weasley, and I can say for certain that she doesn't want to marry him. Can you do something about it?"

Harry scowled. "Insulting my friends is not helping your cause, Davis."

Tracey mentally kicked herself. She'd forgotten Potter's greatest trait, loyalty. It was admirable, and Tracey had often wondered why Potter wasn't in Hufflepuff. Hell, she'd often wondered why he wasn't in all four houses at some point in time.

She sighed, "Look I'm sorry, but I don't like your friend that much. He hasn't exactly been kind to Slytherins, and so you can see why both Daphne and I are less than thrilled that he's the one who's going to fulfill that accursed contract. I don't think your friend would be that thrilled with marrying Daphne either. So, can you do something about it?"

Damn his saving people thing. It probably was some sort of complex or disease.

"How? I don't even know much about marriage contracts."

Tracey was about to launch into a long-winded discussion with him, when she noticed how uncomfortable their position was, crouched in a corner of a deserted corridor under an invisibility cloak.

"Look, would you mind talking about this with Daphne and I in a compartment?"

Harry looked at her strangely. He was, despite his misgivings, curious, and he wanted to know more about Daphne. Sighing, he nodded, and stood up simultaneously with Tracey, making sure the cloak still covered them both. They set out towards the compartment that Tracey assured Harry Daphne had gotten to herself.

**oOo**

Daphne's mask slipped into place effortlessly as she watched Potter sit down, before turning to Tracey with a questioning look in her eyes.

"I asked him to come, because he might be able to help us."

Harry raised a hand and said, "Uh, sitting right here, you know."

Daphne ignored him, and asked, "What do you mean? He's Weasel's best friend, why would he help us?"

Harry shook his head. So far, Daphne seemed to be just like what he'd expected of a prejudiced Slytherin. Disappointed, he rose to leave, but was pulled back down by a rather forceful pair of hands.

"Potter, please sit. Daphne doesn't mean to insult your friends, right Daphne?" Tracey said sweetly while discreetly kicking Daphne in the shin.

Harry sat, still looking rather disgruntled.

"Now, Daphne, he can help us because he has a lot of influence. I'm sure that somewhere, perhaps in the Department of Mysteries or with the Goblins, there is a way to annul the contract. I think that Harry here can help us find a way to annul the contract. He just needs you to explain the basics of a marriage contract in the wizarding world and what it entails. He wants to know why you hate it so much."

Daphne seemed conflicted. On one hand, Potter really could hold the key to her freedom. On the other hand, she had never let down her mask for such a long time that it was hard to act… human around anybody other than her family and Tracey. The fact that Potter was the Weasel's best friend didn't help either.

But Daphne valued her freedom, so in her typical cold, dead voice, she began to tell Potter of the details of the contract, and her reasons for escaping. She was careful not to mention the fact that she hated the Weasel for obvious reasons such as his insensitivity, his disgusting eating habits, his rather objective view of women, and his tendency to view things as black and white too much.

Even so, Daphne was fairly sure that Potter picked up on a lot of what she had left unsaid.

Harry sat forward at the end of the conversation, and said, "I get the fact that you don't like Ronald that much. While I disagree with it, you are entitled to your opinions and I don't think that a conversation about whether or not Ron is a good person is helpful here. I can't promise that I'll help you get out of it. I can tell you, though, that you need to speak with Ron in person. If it is clear to both sides that this marriage will not work, then I will do what I can to try and annul the marriage. Is that good enough for you now, Daphne?"

Daphne started, not expecting Potter to use her given name. She nodded. It was more than good enough. She didn't really have a hope of actually getting out, but the fact that Potter was willing to help her meant that there still might be a chance this whole contract thing could be annulled.

Harry stood. "If that's all, I'll be leaving now."

Tracey cried, "Wait!"

Harry turned, his hand on the latch of the compartment door after he had disabled the locking charm.

"Yes?"

Tracey was blushing red now. "N-Nothing. See you at school, Pot-Harry."

Harry raised an eyebrow, smiled, and said, "See you, Tracey."

The door closed behind him with a sharp click.

Tracey turned around to see Daphne looking at her with an expression that just screamed, "Really?!"

Tracey blushed and looked away.

**oOo**

**A whole new scene! **

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 7**

** You know, it wouldn't kill you guys to leave some feedback right? Thanks to those who did review though. Your comments are really helpful and you motivate me to continue this REDUX.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

The start of the year was like any other year before that, except that there was a noticeable lack of students from the Fifth Year and up, who all had somewhat participated in the Battle of Hogwarts. There was a slight bit of confusion at the carriages about whether or not the repeating First Year students would be taking the carriages with the "new" First Year students, or if they would take the carriages like older students. In the end, most went on the carriages, although a select few went on the boats with Hagrid, as they really enjoyed the boat ride their first time.

The Sorting also caused some confusion. The repeat First Years were actually going to be Re-Sorted, as the Sorting Hat had, in an effort to save some of the students, deliberately Sorted them into Slytherin in order to protect them from the wrath of the Death Eaters. Voldemort himself probably wouldn't have cared about Houses, but the Carrows who were posted weren't smart enough to realize that just because a student was Slytherin didn't mean that they supported the Dark Lord's, and it also didn't mean that they were Pureblood either.

The feast started after a rather long Sorting. After the Sorting was finally over (Ron had been grumbling for quite a while about being kept from his meal), Professor McGonagall, who had now become the permanent Headmistress, made a couple of the usual announcements, including the banned items of Filch, who had miraculously survived the Battle of Hogwarts. Also, the Forbidden Forest was still banned, despite the fact that many of the students had suffered horrors far worse than the creatures that lived in the forest. Finally, she announced the beginning of the feast, and the empty dishes filled with the usual sumptuous foods at Opening Feasts.

Daphne Greengrass sat at the Slytherin table with Tracey Davis. They looked down the Slytherin table. It was obvious which House had suffered the most from the war. Slytherin House's students were noticeably fewer than all the other Houses in the school. Some had been killed, others fled, and some had even been sent to Azkaban like Malfoy. They had heard that the Malfoy family had one cell room. That was already being extremely generous.

Daphne's eyes scanned the Great Hall, and as they passed the Gryffindor Table, she couldn't suppress a shiver of loathing. The redhead she was staring out was currently grabbing two chicken legs and ripping them to shreds, and also conversing with his friends with his mouth full. She could see Granger trying to chastise the redhead, without much success. Potter just seemed to be ignoring their conversation, and was instead talking to Longbottom, who was sitting next to them. Just then, his eyes rose to meet hers, and he raised an eyebrow. Daphne, rather embarrassed at having been caught staring at a boy, quickly turned around.

She couldn't understand why her family had needed to propose a marriage contract with the Weasleys. They were on opposite sides when it came to Light and Dark. The two families had little to no contact before the contract. Yet, something must have made her family sign that contract. She knew of no material gain that came from the contract, and she also knew that even several generations ago, the Weasley name was not worth enough for the Greengrasses, who had a significant amount of political and monetary resources, to arrange a marriage. There were only two explanations, in Daphne's mind. One was blackmail, which was unlikely, and the other was a secret exchange. She didn't know, but she resolved to find exactly what it was that got her traded off to the Weasleys.

She looked up, just as Professor Mcgonagall stood up and began to make her start-of term speech. Afterwards, she asked the sixth and seventh years to stay back. Daphne wondered why her year was staying behind. Most people had their schedules from their sixth year, and since there weren't many staff changes, other than a new Muggle Studies and a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Thus, Daphne saw no reason to stay behind. She waited as her Head of House moved down the table towards the sixth years first. She never particularly liked or disliked Professor Slughorn. He was a good teacher, albeit a bit too enthusiastic at times. Also, his tendency to pick favorites in his class was not great for teaching, but Daphne did admit that the great walrus had taught even herself a thing or two at Potions. Daphne herself was very talented at potions, even surpassing Granger, although this knowledge was only known by a very select few. This was one of the reasons why she felt she had a really good chance at becoming the future Potions Mistress of Hogwarts.

In class, there really was no way to compare the class's skill at potions, which was why people just assumed Granger was the best, as she answered every question. Since Snape was also known for favoring his own students, the praise Daphne received from Snape was pretty much ignored by the Gryffindors, as they thought that Snape was favoring his own students like usual.

When Professor Slughorn approached Daphne and Tracey, he smiled amiably and said,

"Oho, who do we have here? Ahh yes, Ms. Greengrass and Ms. Davis. The Headmistress has decided that since the repeat seventh year class is so small with the casualties in the war, that the whole year will have every class together. This means that there will be some big and some small classes. Also, you are eligible to take courses that you did not take before, as the Ministry has decided that since there was a huge opening in jobs after the war, you can study a course that you have not taken before, and attempt to master it. Thus, here is a selection of the new courses for this year that are open for both sixth and seventh years. You will have the three days to decide, in which there will be no classes for sixth and seventh year. At the end of your seventh year, you will take the OWL for any new subject you may choose. As you know, most jobs only require an OWL in a certain subject matter, not an NEWT, so I suggest that you girls make the most of this opportunity. Make sure you choose wisely. Your answers will be collected on Thursday. Classes start next Monday. Any questions?"

Tracey and Daphne looked at each other, and shook their heads simultaneously.

"Good, here are the choices." Slughorn passed around the paper.

Then, he turned to Daphne and smiled genially. "Ms. Greengrass, I'm holding another one of my little parties next weekend. Would you like to come?"

Daphne smiled, but turned down the offer politely. Unfortunately, Slughorn was a stubborn man, and Daphne, not wanting to disappoint the one who may well be the person who appointed her to her dream job, Potions Mistress, accepted after a little bit of convincing.

As Slughorn was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something, and turned back around to Daphne.

"Oh and Ms. Greengrass, be sure to bring a date!" He winked, before heading down the table.

Daphne groaned. Just what she needed. She had to find a date. Still, she had more important things on her mind, and stored that little annoyance to the back of her head. She knew she could find a date easily, as many boys dreamed about going on a date with her. She just needed to find the right guy. She was really apprehensive about approaching Weasley though, because she knew based off past experiences that he didn't seem like a good date at all. Padma Patil was a very good testament to that, and Lavender Brown also supported her conclusion.

Her thoughts turned to her more pressing issue and the book on marriage contracts that she had spent a lot of time reading. She had found some things in the book that did allow her to void the marriage, but all were either illegal or were such terrible acts that Daphne did not even want to consider those options. She sighed. Perhaps Potter could find a way. Daphne hated being reliant on people, especially when her own fate was concerned. But, she really had no choice. She had been resigned to the marriage contract ever since she'd heard of it. Potter would be the only hope that she, Daphne Greengrass, could be free. The next week or so would be a prime opportunity to talk to Potter and Weasel. She wanted to maximize her already slim chances of freedom.

She strode out of the Great Hall, Tracey by her side. They didn't have much to do. Many boys had been talking about holding a Quidditch match on the Pitch, but neither Daphne nor Tracey took much interest in Quidditch. Sure, they had both gone to the World Cup, but that was merely because they were almost obligated to go, as almost every wizarding family that could afford the tickets would be going. Hell, even the Weasleys went.

As they left the Hall, they encountered a couple of the remnants of Malfoy's old posse. The seventh years that had been part of Malfoy's group had mostly either died or been sentenced to Azkaban, but these were sixth years. They had never been sentenced, because they did not take part in the final battle at Hogwarts. Now, their swagger and their arrogance were back, as they had escaped the persecution that occurred at the end of the War.

"Greengrass, you're looking well. Want to join me in my bedroom tonight?" one of the blokes snickered as he nudged his friend.

Daphne turned her cold eyes on him, but he didn't flinch.

The guy next to him smirked, "You don't need to put on that cold face, Greengrass. We know you like boys. Especially the Gryffindor Golden Boy. We saw you staring at him earlier."

Daphne had her wand out and a Stinging Hex sent right between the boy's legs in less than a second. The boy fell to his knees in pain, as his mates gathered around him.

"If I ever hear you mention his name again, you pathetic excuse for a human being, I WILL personally castrate you, tie you up, and throw you into the Forbidden Forest. I heard that the remnants of Voldemort's forces still lurk in the shadows there. I bet that they'll be extremely pleased to see you. They must be getting very, very hungry." Daphne said coldly, but with a murderous glint in her eyes.

The boys took one look at her, grabbed their friend, and dragged him up the stairs, presumably to bring him to Madam Pomfrey, as his cries of pain had not diminished since Daphne had first hit him with the hex.

Tracey looked at her in both awe and fear.

"Wow, I didn't know that Potter had that great of an effect on you. Don't tell me you actually like him."

Daphne rounded on her. Tracey immediately put her hands up in the air.

"Whoa, Whoa, calm down, Daphne."

"I don't like Potter. I was merely staring at him because he's probably going to be my only hope for freedom."

Daphne winced, while Tracey smirked at her. Even to herself, that sounded incredibly weak.

**oOo**

** I added a party! Now, guess who's gonna be her date? No seriously. Guess!**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 8**

**Honestly, I'm spoiling all of you too much now. I should stop updating so quickly, but I'm hella motivated. Lucky you!**

** And, for the first time, we get a chapter that is completely rewritten. Nothing like the original!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

_Earlier, during the feast, from Harry and Neville's Point of View_

"Mate, you got a girl staring at you." Neville said, noticing Daphne Greengrass's interest in his friend.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Not surprising. She a fan girl?"

Neville shook his head. Daphne Greengrass definitely wasn't a fan girl. He couldn't believe his friend's luck. Could he have really caught the eye of the infamously cold Daphne Greengrass? Granted, she wasn't staring at him with any emotions, but at least she was showing an interest. That in itself was more than she had ever shown any other boy.

Harry swiveled to look around the Hall. "Well, who is it then?"

"Daphne Greengrass." Neville stated simply.

Harry turned, and caught the eye of the stunning Slytherin girl. She looked just as doll-like as before. Harry raised his eyebrows. On the inside, he was rather surprised and rather happy that the girl was showing him interest, but he wouldn't let Daphne know that. He didn't fancy any hexes aimed at his groin.

The girl quickly turned away from him, and Neville punched Harry lightly on the arm.

"Good for you, mate."

Harry turned. "Whaddya mean?"

"She likes you, mate. Even if she doesn't really show it. I don't think she's ever shown that much interest in a boy."

Harry knew that she didn't like her. He knew the real reason for her interest. She was probably watching him to gauge what he did and how it would affect his decision on whether or not he'd be able to help her plight.

If Harry was honest with himself, he knew that Ron and Daphne as a couple would probably never work out. Ron was, whether he admitted it or not, still not over Fred's death, and blamed Voldemort for it. And Ron never really differentiated Slytherin and Voldemort, which just worsened things. It also didn't help that Daphne seemed like the type of girl who wouldn't take shit, and even if you slightly provoked her, would retaliate quickly, and, most likely, painfully.

Thus, Harry was inclined to help Daphne. Still, he felt that Ron should at least meet Daphne. No matter what happened after, at least Harry could tell himself in the future that he'd tried, and that he didn't rob two people of potential happiness.

"Earth to Harry!" Neville cried, waving a hand in front of Harry's face.

Harry shook his head, and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, mate."

Neville had a shit-eating grin on his face. "I didn't know you'd be that shocked to see that she liked you. Does our resident Golden Boy have a crush on the mysterious, cold, and dangerous Slytherin Ice Queen?"

Harry smacked him playfully. "Shut up, Fatbottom. I didn't know you were so into titles. Perhaps I could call you Neville the Slayer-of-Snakes in the future?"

Neville put a hand on his heart. "Oh my, the Boy-Who-Lived is channeling Draco Malfoy. Rita Skeeter would just LOVE to hear that piece of information."

Harry glowered, his face turning red. "Don't make me hex you."

Neville collapsed on the bench laughing, bumping into Ron, who was on his forty-second chicken wing.

"Oi! –alm 'Own, -Ates"

Hermione looked over at the laughing boy, and turned to Harry with a questioning look on her face.

Harry's face was red, but he waved aside Hermione and told her that they were just poking fun at each other. Hermione was about to reply, but felt that the need to chastise Ron over his disgusting table manners was more important, and rounded on the redhead.

Harry glared at Neville, who was now hiccupping, slowly getting himself back under control.

"Sorry mate."

Just then, McGonagall made her announcement about Sixth and Seventh Years staying behind, and a little while later, she came to Harry, Neville, Ron and Hermione, and repeated what all the Sixth and Seventh Years were being told.

Harry and Neville looked at each other.

"I suppose Runes and Arithmancy would be good options." Harry said, as they left the Great Hall together.

Ron looked incredulously at him. "Arithmancy is really hard, mate. Do you really fancy doing that."

Hermione whacked him on the back of his head. "Ron! Just because you are too lazy to work hard, doesn't mean that Harry is."

She nodded approvingly at Harry.

"Arithmancy is a very good choice Harry. Ancient Runes as well. Runes will help you a lot if you do become an Auror. After all, a lot of Dark witches and wizards have wards around their homes, and wards are generally rune-based. If you ever need to break through the wards, a good knowledge of Runes will be invaluable to you."

Harry nodded, and Neville agreed.

"I'll take Runes with you, mate. That way, if it does turn out to be incredibly dull, at least we'll be able to amuse each other." Hermione glared at Neville for his rather disparaging comment about Runes, which he pointedly ignored.

Harry suddenly saw Tracey Davis frantically beckoning him into a nearby secret corridor. Harry told his friends to go on ahead, and that he had some business to attend to. His friends looked at him strangely, wondering what business one could have on the very first day of school, but they didn't question him. They bid him goodnight, and headed up the staircase towards Gryffindor Tower.

Harry slipped behind the tapestry and into the corridor to find Tracey Davis standing there.

"What do you want, Davis?"

"I just want to ask you something." Tracey was looking shyly down at her feet, a stark contrast from the rather forward and outgoing girl that he'd spoken to on the train.

Curiosity piqued, Harry asked, "What is it?"

"Slughorn is holding a party next Saturday."

At hearing this, Harry groaned. He knew that he was invited, and he would probably be coerced in some way or another to go to the party. He really didn't want to. Slughorn's parties were an absolute pain to go to, as he was generally glad-handed around the room by Slughorn to all his previous students who were now rich and/or famous.

Tracey looked a little miffed by the interruption. Harry quickly apologized, and motioned for her to go on.

"Well, I was invited, and he said that we were to bring dates. And, well, I wanted to ask you, Harry, i-if you'd like to be my date for the party?"

Harry's eyebrows rose above his hairline. A Slytherin he'd just met was asking him on a date? Now THAT was unexpected.

"Um. I dunno, Tracey, we only just met." Harry replied awkwardly, still trying to grasp hold of the current situation.

Tracey looked down, disappointed, and said, "Well, that's all I wanted to ask, Harry. It's OK if you don't want to, I understand. I've only known you for a little while, but you seem to be a pretty nice guy, and I don't have many friends left here at Hogwarts. But I understand if you don't want to come on this date, and I realize that there are plenty of girls who you'd probably rather go with. I'll just … be on my way now."

Tracey left, closing the door to the tapestry behind her without a sound, leaving Harry standing there in the darkness, kicking himself over what he'd done. The Slytherin girl had sounded so broken, and Harry felt bad as he remembered all that she had suffered through. She hadn't told her, but Harry got the impression that her parents were dead, and it wasn't because they were Death Eaters. In fact, he even recalled the fact that her parents had opposed Voldemort, and had been killed because of their so-called "betrayal."

So many lives touched by the war. So many lives lost because Harry hadn't shown up and defeated Voldemort sooner.

A tear slowly slipped down Harry's face.

**oOo**

Daphne had no idea where her best friend had disappeared off to. One moment, she had been there, taking the mickey out of her comments about Potter. The next, she had waved goodbye, told her she needed to do something "personal", and dashed off.

Mentally shrugging, knowing that she'd see Tracey in the dorm, she continued her walk towards the dungeons. As she walked down, she noticed the Weasel, Granger, and Longbottom walking together up the stairs towards Gryffindor Tower. Her lip curled with disgust at the sight of Weasley's appearance. There were flecks of food on his shirt, and around the corners of his mouth. It was quite… nauseating.

She was surprised that Neville Longbottom was with Granger and Weasel, as they had never been friends before the year. Then again, it probably shouldn't have come as a surprise, considering that Longbottom HAD killed the Snake, which had released some foul substance. Daphne suspected that it might've been a Horcrux, which horrified her. She couldn't understand why anybody would split their soul.

It didn't really matter, as she whispered the password, "_Salazar_."

She headed up to her dorm, which now consisted of Tracey, herself, and Millicent, as their former dormmate Pansy had been killed in the final battle, and Lilith Moon, their other dormmate had escaped to the States before Voldemort had taken over. She had been one of the few Muggle-born Slytherins, and often had to endure the taunts and insults from within the House. She'd often felt pity for her ostracized dormmate, but she considered herself above such trivial matters, and thus didn't intervene.

Just as she was putting all her clothes in order, Tracey ran into her dorm and collapsed on her bed.

"Stupid, stupid, idiot! Why did you ever think that would work?"

Millicent looked at her curiously, but Daphne glared at her, and the other girl backed off.

Daphne walked to her friend's bed, and asked, "What are you talking about. Who's stupid? What happened?"

"I asked Potter to be my date to Slughorn's party."

Daphne immediately rounded on Millicent, who now looked scared.

"Don't you dare repeat this to anyone." Daphne said icily, "Or you'll regret the consequences."

Millicent nodded frantically and, after a moment to make sure that she had indeed gotten the message, Daphne turned back to Tracey.

"You asked Potter? Why?"

"I didn't really have anyone to go with. All my friends are now either dead or in Azkaban. I don't have any family left here either. I thought Potter was a nice guy, and so I went for him. I'm so stupid! Of course there'd be others who he'd want to go with. Perhaps the Weaslette, or someone else from his house."

Daphne heart went out to her friend. She had suffered a lot, and now Potter had turned her down, the idiot. She was going to have to set him straight the next day.

"What about Blaise? You could always go with Blaise?"

"Blaise? But, you're going to go with him, aren't you? You always go with him to formal events because you know that he doesn't have an agenda or a motive"

Daphne admitted that that was true. She had gone with Blaise in the past because he was never going to try and marry her, or take advantage of her. For Blaise had had his eye set on Hermione Granger since fourth year at the Yule Ball. Tracey had spent endless amounts of time needling him for it.

"It's fine if you go with him this time. Besides, I might as well take this opportunity to get to know Weasel a little bit better, despite how much that idea disgusts me…"

Tracey sat up at hearing Daphne's declaration, and stopped banging her head into the bed which was reminiscent of a house elf punishing itself.

"Really? You're going to go with Weasel?"

"Who else would I go with? Potter? He'd be even less likely to accept a date with me than with you."

Tracey got that shit-eating grin again. "I love how your next candidate is Potter. Don't tell me you're interested in him?"

A loud guffaw erupted from the other side of the room. Immediately, Daphne glared at Millicent, who abruptly shut her mouth, and emitted a small squeak.

Satisfied that she had made her point, she turned to Tracey, "I'll admit that I'm curious about Potter. Besides, as much as I hate to say it, I DO owe him. So, yes, for now, he seems to be my second choice."

Tracey merely smirked, "Don't even deny it. You like him."

Daphne clenched her fists. "Would you stop it? I don't like him! I'm merely curious about him."

"Sure, sure, whatever you say." Tracey said smugly.

A pillow flew across the room and smacked Tracey straight in the face.

"Oops." Daphne said innocently.

"Oh, it's on!" Tracey cried.

Needless to say, it was very late before the girls got to bed. At least, Daphne had gotten Tracey's mind off Potter.

**oOo**

**My wrist is aching from pressing so hard against the laptop for such a long time. I really do spoil all of you too much.**

** Tell me, do you enjoy the new version of Chapter 8 better?**

** And for those who think that Tracey warmed up to Harry way too quickly, remember, she's got nobody left in England that she really cares about other than Daphne, and maybe Blaise. She's been through a lot, and she just wants to have fun in her life for once. That's why she asked Harry.**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 9**

** Now, did anyone watch the Portugal-US World Cup match? That last-minute goal was pretty sexy! :P**

** Anywho, here's the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. They belong to J.K. Rowling. But, I do own all of her books :)**

**oOo**

Somewhere, in what looked like a deserted train station somewhere, a man and a woman walked together. The two appeared to be arguing over something which concerned the two greatly, judging by their actions and their gestures as they talked.

If a casual observer were to see them, they would think that they were just a normal couple arguing about something or other. Unfortunately, they were no ordinary people.

These two guarded the gateway to what Albus Dumbledore liked to call, "The Next Great Adventure."

And currently, the two were arguing over a certain raven-haired boy with emerald green eyes and a lightning bolt scar.

"He must die. He controls me. He controls the three Hallows! Those three items were never meant to be put together. They give the wielder more power than he will ever realize. He cannot live a second longer if I have any say." The man, who could be called Death in stories such as Beedle the Bard, said.

The woman, whom most called Fate or Destiny, replied, just as heatedly, "We cannot just kill a child for possession of the Hallows. I shall not permit it. I am not altering his fate in order to correct YOUR mistake, Death. You were the one who created those blasted items anyways. Go fix it yourself, and I don't mean kill the boy while you're at it. If nothing else, that boy deserves some peace and quiet in his life."

The man glared at her, "The Elder Wand will enable him to destroy and defeat any who challenge him. The Invisibility Cloak ensures that none will ever find him should he choose to hide away forever. The Resurrection Stone allows him to call forth all those who have fallen, who can impart valuable advice, and even aid him in a fight. He doesn't even realize that he now has power banish any being lingering on this Earth in the afterlife, and force them here. I'm going to kill him now!"

The woman grabbed his arm before Death could move.

"Fine. We compromise." Fate said, her nails digging into Death's arm.

Death raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and how shall we do that?"

Fate blew out a long sigh. "We get someone to kill him, but if he survives, then YOU don't touch him anymore."

Death glared at her.

"Don't try to trick me, woman. Anyone we send after him will just die. He defeated Voldemort, nobody even compares to him when you talk about magical power. He also has the Elder Wand."

Fate smiled. "What about an assassin?"

Now Death was intrigued. "Who?"

"Samantha Zabini."

**oOo**

The boy they were speaking of was just waking up the next day in his bed in Gryffindor Tower. Harry regretted his actions when he talked to Tracey Davis the day before. At the very least, he should've comforted her, and tried to make up some excuse so that she wouldn't feel that he just straight up disliked her. In fact, it was quite the contrary. Harry found her to be a fun person to be around, with her witty and sometimes sarcastic jokes. She was also very beautiful. Harry was surprised that no other boys had really approached her until he remembered that Daphne would probably exude an aura that warned off boys for both of them. Not to mention that Daphne generally garnered all the attention of the boys.

Ron was still snoring, even though it was already eight. Usually Harry would be going down to breakfast around now, before preparing for his first-period class at nine. However, they did have a "free" week, which meant that he was allowed a few more lie-ins. Unfortunately, Ron seemed to take the idea of a "lie-in." into "sleep until lunchtime."

Suddenly, Harry got an idea, and smirked mischievously. He first got ready for the day, showering and brushing his teeth, before putting on his new robes that he had picked up at Madam Malkin's the day they met the Greengrasses in the Alley. Then, when he was ready to go down, and seeing Ron still dead to the world, he grabbed his wand, pointed it at him, and thought '_Levicorpus._"

The results were immediate.

"ARGHHH!" Ron yelled as he felt his ankle wrenched into the air.

Harry fell on his bed laughing, the panicked look on Ron's face.

When Ron finally got his bearings, and saw Harry laughing uproariously on his own bed, he started glaring at him.

"Haha, very funny, mate. Such a nostalgic feeling, no? Now let me back down, would you?"

Harry, slowly controlling himself, pointed his wand at Ron and thought, "_Liberacorpus_."

Ron fell in an undignified heap back onto his bed.

"Why can't you just set the alarm clock?" Ron grumbled into his covers.

Neville, who had woken up to all the commotion on the other side of the room, snorted with laughter, "Because this alarm is way funnier."

Ron merely grumbled and padded into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

By the time that all three boys finally made it down to the Common Room, they were met by a very annoyed Hermione.

"Where were the three of you?! I was up at seven and waiting for you! I even finished my Runes textbook while sitting down here."

"Hermione…." All three boys whined.

"We're allowed a little bit of a lie-in." Ron whined.

Harry joined in, "Yeah 'Mione, there's no classes."

Hermione huffed, "Just because there aren't any classes this week doesn't mean that there won't be classes next week. What if you get up late next week?"

"Then I s'pose we'll be marked late." Neville said.

They headed down to breakfast, where they joined Ginny at the Gryffindor Table.

"Brother dear. What happened to you?" Ginny said as soon as she looked up.

Hermione frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Hermione, I dunno if you've noticed, but Ron's face is quite a few shades redder than it normally is. That usually means he got humiliated, or he's embarrassed about something."

Hermione rounded on Harry, who was cracking up with Neville.

"What'd the two of you do?"

"Nothing." They said innocently.

"Levicorpus isn't nothing." Ron hissed.

"At least you won't lecture us about using Snape's spells anymore, hmm?" Harry smirked at Hermione.

"Yes, but I still CAN rub in the fact that I was right about the Prince."

Harry shook his head, and was about to go back to his scrambled eggs and bacon when he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. He looked around, and saw Jimmy Peakes.

"'Sup Captain."

Harry grinned.

"Hey Jimmy. How was your summer?"

"It was good. Anyways, when are tryouts this year?"

Harry replied, "Give me a week or so to think about it. I'm not Oliver Wood, or Hurricane Johnson. I'll let you know after I find a free weekend, OK?"

Jimmy nodded, said goodbye, and took off after his friends.

The rest of breakfast was rather uneventful, unless you counted Ron setting a new personal record for number of sausages ate at one sitting.

Later, the four friends were planning on a pickup game of Quidditch, when Harry caught sight of Tracey Davis darting into another secret passageway. He was surprised that she knew of that one, which was a quick shortcut to the Astronomy Tower. He made a split-second decision, and told his friends to go on ahead. When they questioned him as to why, he made up an excuse about how he'd forgotten something, and shooed his friends forward with his friends.

They acquiesced, and after they were out of sight, Harry ran up the passageway after the Slytherin girl.

**oOo**

_In Italy…_

Samantha Zabini was the prime definition of what one would call a black widow. She'd been married seven times, each time to different rich men. Each time, they died in very "tragic and accidental deaths" as the Italian press reported it. Samantha merely smirked. How wrong those fools were.

The most pressing issue on her mind right now was the mysterious visitor from the day before. A mysterious man had appeared, and offered gold in exchange for her to kill Harry Potter. Normally, she'd take an assassination without questioning it. After all, assassination was her side profession, after her normal day job as an Auror at the Italian Ministry. She sometimes laughed at the irony of it all. She was on the "right" side of the law during the day, and at night she was on the shadier side.

However, this job, this assassination of Harry Potter, was worrisome. It wasn't just the fact that he was a powerful wizard rumored to possess the famed Elder Wand, despite never having been seen using it other than capturing it from the Dark Lord, Voldemort, in the Battle of Hogwarts. It was also the fact that he was a hero in the Wizarding World, and even Samantha admitted to herself that she was thankful he'd killed Voldemort. It had been only a matter of time before Voldemort would've sought her and Blaise out to join his cause, and Samantha had no wish to be branded like an animal and treated like a slave to that monster. She owed the boy, which meant that killing him for gold was rather questionable. After all, she had more than enough gold, and the stranger hadn't even told her who he was, or how she would receive the gold once she'd done her job.

She thought hard about what she was going to do as she opened her daily mail. Her son, Blaise, had sent her a letter. That was fairly surprising. She and Blaise didn't have the best of relationships, especially as Blaise suspected, and was correct in, that his father did NOT die of natural causes.

Still, the two of them more or less tolerated each other and stayed out of each other's way as much as possible. Samantha had realized at around the time when Blaise was twelve that he was never going to turn into the man that Samantha wanted him to be. So, she just gave him as much space as possible, and allowed him many freedoms. Sometimes, she regretted having a child. Damn that Contraception spell for not doing its job that night…

Even so, she opened Blaise's letter and quickly skimmed the contents. It was nothing of import, just a rather standard letter telling her of the new course selections for the year. However, a thought came to Samantha's mind. Blaise did get quite close to Harry Potter every day at school. So she supposed that she might be able to convince Blaise to slip Potter some poison. But still, she had qualms against doing this.

Samantha Zabini spent the rest of the day with quite the headache as she went over the assassination over and over again in her brain.

**oOo**

** I've always loved the idea of Black Widow and Master Assassin Mrs. Zabini.**

** I should give credit where credit is due, I did get the idea for the first name of Mrs. Zabini from Wanda Ginny Greenleaf's Wand, Knife and Silence, but EVERYTHING else is mine, including Samantha's personality. Sorry, I just wasn't in the mood to come up with an original name.**

** Also, I felt that, as a villain, Umbridge and/or Narcissa were just about the lamest choices ever. So, why not make Death himself the villain. What do you guys think?**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 10**

** I'm glad to know that you all like the new villain. I hope that it hasn't been done before, but considering the size of HP fandom, it's probably very unlikely.**

** And for those who are worried about the OC from the original story, don't worry. He isn't coming back. I don't think ANYONE liked that, which is part of the reason why he's getting deleted. The other part is that he wouldn't fit whatsoever into this story.**

** I hope you enjoy Chapter 10.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. 'Nuff said.**

**oOo**

Harry emerged at the top of the Astronomy Tower panting, having just practically sprinted up many flights of stairs. He looked around carefully, not seeing the Slytherin girl in question anywhere. He looked down at himself, and realized that he looked ridiculous, sprinting and panting while holding a broom in his hand.

Mentally shrugging, he mounted his broom, and began to fly around the Astronomy Tower slowly, looking for Tracey. He found her sitting on the balcony staring at the lake at the very top of the Astronomy Tower where Dumbledore died. Harry still felt a pang of sorrow when he saw the spot where the aged Headmaster had finally met his demise.

Harry had spent a lot of time thinking about his feelings for Dumbledore both on the run, and after his conversation with the man's portrait in the Headmaster's Office after he had defeated Voldemort, once and for all. He resented Dumbledore's rather Machiavellian views, and he didn't particularly agree with his ideas of "the Greater Good." He would probably never be able to completely forgive him for leaving him on the doorstep of his relatives and then never personally checking in on him for eleven years.

However, he also respected the man. His heart was in the right place. The raw power that Dumbledore had wielded in his life was also nothing to scoff at. It was also probably because of Dumbledore's presence that Voldemort had never dared to attack Hogwarts while he was Headmaster. He did a lot for his students, and, despite his younger wrongdoings, he did champion equal rights for Muggles, and worked to improve wizarding relations with various magical races including giants and goblins. Thus, Harry did feel sorrow at his passing, although he no longer idolized the man as many people of his generation did.

Harry got off his broom, and slowly approached the Slytherin girl. He said nothing, his footsteps loud in the silence. He sat down next to the girl, whose eyes were faraway, staring off into the distance.

"Are you okay, Tracey?"

Tracey looked at him, slightly surprised that it was him and not Daphne, although she probably should've known considering that Daphne's footsteps were never as loud as the ones approaching her.

Tracey shrugged. She herself wasn't sure if she was OK. Ever since yesterday, her emotions had been in turmoil. She'd realized that she was almost completely alone in the world, and the thought scared her.

Harry smiled softly at her.

"If this is about the war, you can always talk about it. You'll never find a better audience for war stories than me."

Tracey smiled her thanks, and the two just sat there quietly for a few minutes, staring out at the lake. It was a beautiful autumn day, and many Sixth and Seventh Years were outside enjoying the weather.

"I'm scared, Harry. I've realized that I'm alone in this world. Daphne is the only companion I have, and now she's married off to Weasley. She won't be there for me forever. I can't expect that of her. After she leaves, whether it's because of the contract marriage, or for whatever other reason, what am I going to do? All I really know is how to fight, because that's how we were raised with the threat of Voldemort. I'm sick and tired of fighting Dark Wizards, so I don't think that joining the Aurors will do me any good. I just… I don't know what to do with my life."

Harry said nothing, merely listening intently.

"Ever since the war ended, there's a sense of relief, but there's also a lack of action, you know? There's almost nothing to do, which makes it worse, because then you feel the losses of the war even more acutely." Tracey laughed humorlessly. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. I haven't even told Daphne yet. She's been worried sick."

Harry sighed, looking out at the water.

"It's hard, isn't it, letting go of your loved ones? We all lost somebody in the war. I guess the best way to move on is to ask yourself, what would your loved one have said to you if they saw you moping around for them? I miss my parents, my godfather, Fred, Tonks, Lupin, and countless other friends that died in the various battles with Voldemort, but each and every day, I continue because I know that that is what they would want for me. They'd want me to be happy. And that way, I can move on."

Tracey thought about what he'd said. She knew that her mother certainly would want her to be happy. She was a Muggle-born witch, who had always been a very happy person. Her father, although much more stern, as he was raised in a Pureblood family, still wished the best for her. They wouldn't want her to mope around. She nodded to herself.

"Thanks Harry. I needed that. I don't think Daphne could really have helped me. She didn't lose anyone really important to her."

Harry smiled. "Hey, it's not a big deal. Now, I wanted to apologize for yesterday."

Tracey turned, surprised by his apology.

"Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything wrong? I understand if you don't want to go with me."

Harry shook his head. "No, I was just shocked that you asked me. I was just trying to say that I wanted to get to know you better, which was why I was unsure. I wanted to apologize because I've thought about it, and I do want to go with you, Tracey."

Tracey's eyes widened with shock.

"Y-You w-want to go w-with me?"

Harry smiled at her. "Yes, I do. You're a funny, sweet, smart, and kind person. I want to take this chance to get to know you better."

Tracey threw her arms around him in a tight hug, which Harry awkwardly returned.

"So I'll see you on Saturday, six o'clock?"

Harry smiled, "I'll be there."

The two teens looked at each other for a moment, before Tracey leaned in and pecked Harry on the cheek. Before Harry could even make a comment about what she'd done, Tracey sprinted inside and down the stairs, leaving Harry grinning like a loon, touching the place where her lips had touched his cheek.

**oOo**

Later, Harry flew down from the Astronomy Tower to the Pitch. From behind the stands of the Pitch, he studied the players up on the Pitch, using this as a good way to scout both rival House's players, and to see how good the Gryffindors were. He made mental notes on who he might put on the team after tryouts.

Harry began to make plans for tryouts, knowing that he should probably get together a team soon. Finally, he saw Ginny beat out Terry Boot, who was playing Seeker for the other team. Terry was pretty good on a broom, but he was not suited to play Chaser. He was neither the fastest player, nor did he have the skill and hand-eye coordination required to catch the Snitch. He was much better at Chaser, as he was very good at dodging Bludgers, much like Demelza Robins, who had made the Gryffindor Team in Harry's Sixth Year.

As the game ended, Harry waited for Ron to land. He looked sweaty and tired in the posts. Ron had done well as Keeper, and blocked twenty out of twenty-five shots that the opposing team's Chasers had thrown at him.

"Hey mate, where've you been. We waited ten minutes for you."

"Sorry, I got caught up talking to—" Harry began, before he noticed that quite a few were trying to eavesdrop on their conversation, no doubt hoping to pick up some good gossip.

With a meaningful glance at Ron, telling him that he'd tell him in private later, Harry said, "You should probably go take a shower and change. You reek. I'll see you later."

Ron glared playfully at him, before heading off to the Locker Rooms. Chuckling, Harry found Neville among the throng of students that were heading back to the castle.

"Where were you, Harry? Did it have something to do with Tracey Davis? I saw you chase after her." Neville winked suggestively at him.

"Who are you and what have you done to Neville Longbottom?" Harry said sarcastically.

"What do you mean?" Neville asked, laughing.

"I mean that the shy, fat little boy that I met in First Year would never have the audacity to joke about girls in a provocative manner. Where did that boy go?"

Neville waved a hand airily, "Oh, you know, killing a few snakes and living through a war will allow you to grow up."

"True, true." Harry agreed, while trying to stop himself from taking another depressing trip down memory lane.

"Anyways, mate, don't try to change the subject. Just what DID you get up with Tracey in that Tower?"

"We talked."

Neville nodded, looking expectant.

"And…?"

"And nothing, Neville. We didn't do anything."

"Aw, Harry, don't deny it. You wouldn't be this embarrassed if 'nothing' happened."

"Fine. I agreed to go to Slughorn's party with her."

Neville looked shocked. "You guys are dating?"

"It's just one party, mate. We just want to get to know each other. If it progresses further, then maybe we'll become official."

"She's a nice girl, whose seen too many horrors." Neville said sadly.

"How do you know?" Harry asked him, curious.

"The Quibbler reported about her family's murders. This was before Luna was captured, obviously, so old Xeno was still printing facts instead of 'Undesirable Number One.'"

Harry sighed. There were too many unhappy memories. He did regret what they'd done to Xenophilius, despite the fact that he had tried to betray them to the Death Eaters. He could understand and respect the man's decision as he wanted to save his daughter. Luna had never been the same after the war. She'd started a relationship with Dean last Harry had heard, as the two had never come back to Hogwarts. Still, something terrible happened in the dungeons of Malfoy Manor. Harry really didn't want to know what.

As they were approaching the Great Hall, they were met by a rather irate Daphne Greengrass striding towards them.

"Potter!"

Harry and Neville looked at each other.

"Uh oh."

**oOo**

The stranger had approached her again last night. This time, he had been much more threatening and more unpleasant than last time. Not very many things scared Samantha Zabini, but the man in the hooded cloak scared her more than anyone ever before. Not even Voldemort was able to instill this innate fear inside of her.

Samantha was fairly sure that the man was not human. She still had no idea who he was, but all she really knew was, she HAD to kill Harry Potter. No longer was she given a choice. 'She would regret this,' she thought, as she prepared her latest batch of poison, before setting off to her study to compose a letter to her son.

_Dearest Blaise,_

_ Recently, I've read a lot about Harry Potter in the newspapers. Now, you should know that your mother loves gossip. However, I've learned in the past to never take what you read in the papers at face value. So, I really wanted to ask Harry some questions. Perhaps you could convince him to come over Christmas? Or, if it is impossible for him to come then, then how about next summer. Do this for your mother, Blaise, sate her curiosity. I hope to see you this Christmas with Mr. Potter, Blaise. If you can't get him to come for Christmas, then I absolutely insist that I see him next summer._

_ Don't make me ask you again._

_Love,_

_Mother_

Samantha read through the rather short letter quickly. Satisfied, she tied it to the leg of her owl.

She smiled. Blaise knew not to anger her. The last sentence should make sure that she would be seeing Potter very soon. Now, all she had to plan was the actual death itself.

**oOo**

** I'm terrible at writing emotional post-war psychology scenes. So if Harry and Tracey's talk is totally unrealistic, then I apologize.**

** I've given all of you my opinion on Dumbledore. I realize that many dislike the man, and I've heard arguments for both sides. Understand that this is my point of view. **

** The story should move pretty fast after classes start. **

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 11**

** I was on a multi-day roadtrip, which delayed this chapter. Sorry.**

**Enjoy Chapter 11.**

** Disclaimer: This is the last one, because it's pointless. I don't own Harry Potter. 'Nuff said.**

**oOo**

Blaise Zabini had never had a very happy relationship with his mother. Whenever he heard talk about loving family and caring parents, he'd snort with derision. He'd never known anything loving or caring. All he knew was a cruel, greedy woman who was way too good at killing for her own good.

Back when Blaise had been only nine years old, he had become disillusioned with his mother ever since his second stepdad had died. Blaise had genuinely liked the man, as the man had cared for him, despite not being his actual father. The man had acted as a father figure, which was someone Blaise had truly lacked throughout most of his childhood. He couldn't remember his true father, as he had died a few years after Blaise was born.

Blaise would never forget how his stepfather had just slumped silently to the floor one day during dinner. He had been perfectly fine moments before, but after taking a drink from a goblet of wine that a House Elf had given him, he had just slumped over. His mother had, obviously, played the role of a shocked wife, and later grieving widow, nearly perfectly. Except for one slight flaw. Blaise had noticed, right before stepfather number two had slumped over, a small, anticipatory, feral grin on his mother's face. He would never forget that look.

Now his mother had sent her a letter, expecting him to immediately obey her just like he used to. But the war had changed Blaise in more ways than one. He was no longer the scared, obedient child of his youth, where he was constantly worried that his mother was plotting to kill him. He could stand up for himself.

Blaise crumpled up the paper in anger. He would have to talk to Potter, and warn him about his mother's plans. He didn't want to be responsible or even taking part in a potential murder for his mother, and the fact that she was targeting the Boy-Who-Lived just made it all even worse.

Thankfully, it looked like Tracey and Daphne had somewhat became acquaintances with Potter. Perhaps, through them, he could set up a meeting somehow. He'd have to talk to Tracey about it.

**oOo**

Harry faced down Daphne Greengrass calmly. Or, well, as calmly as any male could face down the irate Ice Queen.

"What is it, Daphne?" Harry asked.

Daphne took a quick look around them, realizing that quite a few people were listening in on their conversation, especially interested that the Ice Queen was actually showing an interest in a boy, despite the fact that his name was Harry Potter.

Daphne replied, "Can we talk somewhere else?" clearly hinting that she wasn't comfortable with an audience.

Harry was tempted to refuse, and let the world see that the Ice Queen was human, but he knew that Tracey would not take kindly to him making her best friend's life difficult, and reluctantly agreed. All the bystanders, including a currently open-mouthed Neville as he got a close-up view of the most beautiful girl at Hogwarts for the first time, groaned in disappointment causing Daphne to direct her icy glare at them.

Neville was still staring, open-mouthed, until Daphne turned her gaze at him, causing him to close his mouth and turn his head in embarrassment.

"Where, Daphne?" Harry asked patiently.

"Come with me." She merely said, not wishing to disclose the location in case anybody nearby had Extendable Ears in their possession.

Harry waved for Neville to go to dinner without him, before turning to follow the girl who had already gone twenty steps ahead of him, and was now tapping her foot impatiently as she looked at him.

The two didn't speak until finally, they found a deserted corridor, and Daphne pulled him into an empty classroom.

Harry turned to find Daphne had her wand out and was looking rather angrily at him.

Harry immediately held his hands up and said, "Whoa, Whoa, what did I do? You touched me, not the other way around."

Daphne glared at him. "This has nothing to do with me, Potter. You hurt Tracey. She hasn't had the easiest life and you just had to turn her down. It was only just a party for Merlin's sake."

Harry stared at her, bewildered, until he realized that Tracey obviously hadn't gotten around to telling her about his change of heart.

"I talked to Tracey today, and I told her that it was all a misunderstanding. I'm going to the party with her. In fact, when you next see her, I suspect she'll tell you that. Now put that wand down, would you?"

Daphne was shocked. Potter had actually agreed to go with her friend?

Harry could clearly see the shock on Daphne's face, and chuckled, " Didn't think I'd go with a Slytherin, did you?"

Daphne slowly lowered her wand, the anger disappearing from her face.

Harry studied her curiously. He was surprised that she had cared enough about her friend in order for her to come and personally threaten him. However, his staring got Daphne to start glaring at him again.

"Can't stop drooling over me like half the idiots at the school, can you, Potter?" she said disdainfully.

Harry didn't say anything, but internally, he was disappointed that Daphne still thought so poorly of him. He'd have thought that she'd be polite enough to acknowledge the fact that he was more interested in her friend than herself at the moment, but Harry suspected that Daphne had let all the attention that she'd gotten from boys, no matter how unwelcome, get to her head.

Harry realized that whatever crush or feelings he'd had for Daphne were all but gone. She was truly an Ice Queen, and he didn't want to spend another moment in her condescending, cold, and unwelcoming presence. He was, admittedly, still curious about why she asked to talk to him about Tracey, and hoped that she had some form of human emotions behind the mask, but he no longer cared. Without another word, he stood, and left Daphne sitting there in the classroom. He ignored her questioning "Potter?" and just closed the door behind him, before slipping into a secret passageway leading up to Gryffindor Tower.

**oOo**

Daphne sat there, feeling rather shocked and a little ashamed of herself. She hadn't been thinking when she saw Potter staring at her, and had reacted negatively just as she would have if she caught any member of the opposite sex staring at her. In hindsight, Potter hadn't been staring at her in any sort of perverted way, he looked more like he was judging her. He had looked almost curious, and held some measure of respect in her eyes.

Then she just opened her mouth and was cold and hostile towards him like she was towards almost all others. She regretted it, but she hadn't expected his reaction to actually… affect her.

The look on his face was a look of disappointment, as if she'd failed to meet his expectations or something. That wasn't surprising, many gave her that look when she'd rejected them or done something nasty to them because of their foolish advances. The surprising part was that she found she cared, to some extent, about Potter's opinion of herself.

She desperately tried to rationalize to herself as to why she cared. None of them sounded even remotely legitimate.

Daphne glanced at the clock and gave a start. She'd been down here brooding about the way Potter had left her for nearly an hour. She would have to get down to the Slytherin Common Room soon, or else she'd be breaking curfew. While the Headmistress wasn't as strict as she once was over curfew, Daphne had no wish of being dragged by the ear to the Headmistress's office by Filch as it was both humiliating and painful.

She had actually cursed Filch once, back in her Second Year, when the cantankerous caretaker had pushed her past her breaking point with absurd accusations after he'd lost his cat to the basilisk that had roamed the school halls that year. She still shuddered at the memory of an irate Filch covered in boils chasing after her with a broom and attempting to smack her with it. In the end, Dumbledore had put an end to the conflict, and taken thirty points from Slytherin as well as giving her a week's worth of detentions. She made sure never to curse Filch again, at least until the Battle of Hogwarts. There, she got her revenge. It wasn't as if anybody would know who had caused Filch's body hair to grow at an alarmingly fast rate, or if anybody could figure out who had silenced and bound the caretaker upside down.

As she entered her dorm, she was immediately grabbed by Tracey who, after squealing quite excitedly for the first few seconds, told her all about what Harry had told her on top of the Astronomy Tower. She also told her about how Harry had comforted her, and how he'd made her feel better and brighten her outlook on life.

Daphne was quite impressed by Potter after her conversation with Tracey. As she lay in bed, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps she'd made a mistake antagonizing Potter. He seemed to be so much more than what she knew about him. She had a strange feeling whenever she thought about Potter, that she had never felt before for any boy. She couldn't really put a description on it, until just as she was falling asleep.

It was respect.

**oOo**

The next morning, as Daphne and Tracey were walking down to the Great Hall, they were suddenly accosted by Blaise and dragged into an empty classroom. Daphne wasn't in the best of moods, as she was not a morning person.

"What is it, Blaise?" she said irritably.

"I need you to talk to Potter to set up a meeting between us." Blaise said urgently.

Tracey raised her eyebrows, "And why would you need to talk to Harry?"

Blaise was rather surprised that Tracey hadn't used Potter's surname, but decided not to comment.

"My mother sent me this." He said simply, handing her the crumpled letter.

Tracey quickly read through the contents, and passed it to Daphne, before turning to Blaise with a pleading look in her eyes.

"You've got to help him, Blaise. I know your mother is a master assassin, but surely you can convince her not to do it, or get her to choose another target?"'

Daphne didn't say anything, merely observing Tracey's reactions. It seemed that her best friend had become rather attached to Potter. That was dangerous, especially if he was marked for death by an assassin. Being with Potter would be dangerous, and she also had no wish to see her best friend's heartbroken. It was one of the reasons she had kept up her Ice Queen façade. She was also protecting her heart, at least until boys matured enough to not be so… flighty.

Blaise himself was even more taken aback by Tracey's interest in the well-being of Potter. Evidently, the two were a lot more than regular acquaintances.

"The best solution to this is to just tell Potter. I'm sure that he'll be able to figure something out. He defeated Voldemort, for Merlin's sake, I don't think my mom will pose much of a problem so long as he KNOWS what's coming."

After thinking it through, Tracey nodded fervently.

"I'll go tell him." She took the letter from Daphne, and ran off.

Blaise turned to Daphne with a questioning look on his face.

Daphne merely shrugged him off, and headed out the door, leaving Blaise alone, shaking his head.

What on Earth had Potter done to Tracey?

**oOo**

**Fairly short, filler chapter. Still rather brain-dead from the all-nighter I pulled on that road trip. **

** Acknowledgements: wisebeyondyears (beta), James Spookie (advisor…?)**

** Please read and review.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 12**

** I know I've mentioned this in the original, but I'll say it here as well, just in case. No smut. At least, not until I feel comfortable writing it. And I have no idea when that'll be.**

** Enjoy Chapter 12.**

** WARNING: Some profanity. This is rated M for a reason.**

**oOo**

Tracey had rushed into the Great Hall, intending on trying to find Harry as soon as possible in case Mrs. Zabini decided to move up her plans a little bit and try to slip some poison into Harry's food or something. Unlikely, but being cautious never hurt anybody. It generally saved lives instead.

Unfortunately for her, her Gryffindor … friend … was either not yet awake, or had already eaten, as he wasn't anywhere to be found at the Gryffindor Table. As she was scanning the Great Hall, Blaise and Daphne had caught up to her. Blaise tapped her on the shoulder, but Tracey forestalled his inevitable question.

"I'm going to Slughorn's party with Harry. Now help me find him." She said, as she turned towards the staircase leading to Gryffindor Tower.

Blaise wasn't done questioning his female friend, but Tracey had just glimpsed Harry and his friends walking down the stairs, and rushed towards them.

As she approached, the Weasel saw her and his expression changed into one of disgust.

She heard him mutter, "Slimy snakes."

Harry elbowed him, and said, "You're going to be married to one."

Just then, Daphne and Blaise had caught up, and judging by the icy glare on Daphne's face, she had definitely heard what the Weasel had to say.

Harry smiled at her, and said, "Hey Tracey. Sorry about Ron here, he hasn't gotten any more emotionally sensitive since he was eleven."

Tracey brushed off Harry's apologies, and said, "Harry, Blaise here has something to tell you."

Harry looked up, having never spoken to Blaise Zabini before, wondering what he could possibly want from him.

"Oh? Well, what is it, Blaise?"

"Po-err… Harry. There's something you need to know, and I'd prefer not to discuss it here." Blaise said while glaring at Tracey, who smiled back sweetly.

Harry, curiosity aroused, nodded, and gestured for Blaise to lead on.

Blaise looked surprised, as if he didn't expect Harry to want to hear it now. Thankfully, Weasel interrupted at the moment.

"Come on, Harry," he said, tugging on his arm, "I want breakfast. I'm starving."

Hermione, who had just caught up to the group, whacked him on the back of the head.

"You're always hungry, Ronald. Go ahead and eat if you want, but I want to know what Blaise has to tell us."

Blaise shook his head. Were all Gryffindors this impatient?

Ron grumbled, but stayed put.

Tracey shot a meaningful glance at Blaise, who turned without another word, and went off towards the empty classrooms of the first floor.

After they had all piled into one room, Blaise locked the door and placed privacy wards around the room, before turning around to face the Gryffindors.

"Alright, there's something you need to know. I don't know if you've heard any of the rumors about my mother, but she's a master assassin. She's motivated by money, and money only. She's killed all of her husbands who were rich, but she's made it look like accidents each and every time, and she's gotten away with it."

Harry nodded to show that he understood, wondering where this was going.

Blaise looked down, "And her next target is you, Po-Harry."

Ron's head shot up, and he immediately went for his wand.

"You Slytherin scum! Still following old Voldy, huh? Well, guess what, your master's dead! So you all can go and hide in some shithole somewhere."

Daphne merely drew her wand, looking just as doll-like as she always did, but Tracey had her wand in her hand, and was looking at Ron warily.

Blaise, meanwhile, was fuming.

"You know what, Weasley? You don't know shit about my family and my life. So why don't you do everyone a favor and fuck off? Go and run back to your mummy and her coddling, eh?"

Ron's face turned red, just as he always did whenever someone brought up his mother.

"_Stupefy!_" he cried.

The jet of red light streaked across the room, but Tracey cried, "_Protego!_", blocking the spell, before sending back an "_Expelliarmus."_

Ron blocked the spell, and rounded on Harry.

"Your bitch of a girlfriend attacked me. Still think that the little slut is good for you?"

Tracey glared at him. "Shut up, Weasel. I don't even know how you survived the war."

Harry quietly said, "Ron, stop insulting my friends."

Ron's face, impossibly, turned even redder.

"You're defending this slag? Don't you remember all the hardships that we went through during the war? These slimy snakes probably never had to go through anything. Their families are probably safe, rich, and laughing at us somewhere."

Harry immediately turned to Tracey, knowing her background. She looked on the verge of tears, being reminded of her family again. She turned and ran out of the room.

Daphne stood up, looking murderous.

Harry left the room, to go after Tracey, leaving an outraged Ron, a pissed off Ice Queen, and a couple of very confused and wary friends.

**oOo**

Samantha Zabini was furious. She'd never thought that her son would betray her like that.

One did not survive long in the business of assassination if they weren't careful and paranoid. Thus, Samantha had attached a listening ward to the letter that she'd sent her son, just like she always did. Sometimes she regretted it, as she really didn't need to hear about Blaise's roommates' fantasies about women. However, occasionally she'd pick up some useful information. This time, though, she was very glad that she'd been paranoid enough to attach a listening device to all her letters.

Her son had told her secrets to that Potter boy! He'd betrayed her trust. She had, of course, never told him everything, but still, the boy had a lot of knowledge of her actions, whether she had willingly told him, or if he had found them out himself.

She would have to figure out a way to fool both her son and that Potter boy.

'Perhaps she should send a letter containing false information to her son.' she mused.

Or perhaps she should move forward with her plan, and kill the Potter boy using more… secretive means when he came to the manor. She was fairly certain that Blaise didn't yet dare to directly oppose her. Still, the boy was growing up fast and quickly becoming useless to her. And in her line of work, useless meant that he was dead weight. And assassins always got rid of dead weight.

She sighed. While she didn't love Blaise in the way that a mother should love her son, she still felt a certain sadness to know that Blaise's days were numbered.

It was unfortunate that she'd have to kill her only son.

**oOo**

(_The Next Great Adventure_)

Death was quite pleased with the one he had chosen to get rid of his Master. The dedication that the woman possessed towards gold was quite foolish, but quite useful in this instance. And with a little bit of fear, he had managed to coerce her to kill the hero of Magical Britain. He smiled. He'd be free soon. Then he'd make sure to get rid of those accursed items.

Death still remembered the day when the three Peverell brothers had crossed his stream safely. He still berated himself over his greed for their souls, and his overconfidence in his own cunning and abilities. He never expected the youngest brother to be so prudent, nor did he expect anyone to be able to collect and master all three items.

As he strolled along the platform, waiting for his Master, his sister, Fate, appeared by his side.

"Still waiting for your Master?" she asked.

Death's good mood vanished. It did not bode well that his sister was here. He'd come to understand that whenever his sister came, it was never pleasant, and she never brought good news. Recently, she'd spent every minute trying to convince him to give up his quest to kill his Master. It was getting really bloody annoying.

"What is it, sister? Are you going to try and convince me to give up on killing this Harry Potter again?"

Fate merely shook her head.

"When are you going to understand that your little assassin will never be able to kill your Master?"

Death shrugged. "So what? At worst, she fails, and I gain another soul."

Fate looked at her brother with sadness.

"You're changing her fate."

Death smirked at her. "You lost that bet to me, remember? I get to change one person's Fate. And I chose Samantha Zabini."

"You're killing an innocent person." Fate appealed, knowing it was hopeless.

"That's just too funny." Death replied, laughing. "You know that appealing to my nonexistent sense of humanity isn't going to work. Why do you even try?"

Fate just shook her head, making up her mind. She hated doing it, but she would need to interfere in mortal affairs for the first time in a millennium.

She'd have to go and visit Harry Potter.

**oOo**

Harry, along with an interested Neville, an approving Hermione, and a very reluctant Ron, elected to take Ancient Runes and Arithmancy for their last year at Hogwarts. Harry knew that the courses were quite difficult, but he also knew that it would help him in whatever profession he chose. Especially as he no longer wished to become Auror. He'd had enough of battling Dark Wizards for a lifetime.

Harry was rather worried about Blaise's mother, but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it. He would just have to make sure that he avoided Blaise's family at all costs. He had also taken to making sure that he prepared his own food at mealtimes, just in case.

Ron was still bickering with Hermione over their course selections, and Harry was getting quite tired of him.

Harry still wasn't very forgiving of his best friend over the incident with the Slytherins a few days ago, but decided to take it easy on his friend, especially after seeing what Daphne had done to him. Future wife or not, she had still cursed him silly with quite a few creative hexes. By the time that the spellfire had eased, Ron had resembled something of a mixture between a weasel and a shrew.

Daphne had gotten two weeks' worth of detentions and fifty points deducted from her House, but Harry got the feeling that she didn't give a damn. Harry really couldn't figure that girl out. She was so cold, so emotionless in almost any situation, but insult her friend, and she became one scary witch. Even Hermione couldn't match her in the "scary" department.

Harry had finally found Tracey using his Marauder's Map that he'd kept inside his moleskin pouch. She had disappeared back up to the Astronomy Tower again.

When he found her, she was staring out at the lake again, eyes red from crying.

Harry didn't say anything. He was never good at comforting girls; Cho Chang was a testament to that.

Still, he did his best, sitting down next to Tracey and tentatively putting an arm around her.

Tracey had said, "I'm not Daphne. I won't smite you."

Tracey had leaned into his embrace, and they had sat there without saying much. Harry had just been her rock, helping her get through what he himself knew was a difficult time emotionally.

In the end, Harry had apologized for Ron's behavior, and once again did his best to take Tracey's mind off things.

And, before she'd left, she had placed a quick, chaste kiss on his lips, before she ran down the staircase again.

Shaking his head out of the memories, he quickly finished up his breakfast, and handed in his form to Professor McGonagall. As he was walking back to his seat, he caught Tracey's eye, who gave him a shy smile. He smiled back, before turning to talk to his friends.

Ron was still grumbling about Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, and Harry was finding it to be really annoying.

'Perhaps he had really grown up, and Ron hadn't.' he mused, for he didn't like Ron as much as before.

He had become much better friends with Neville over the course of the week, and he felt that he could talk to Neville about certain things that he could never have discussed with Ron. In fact, all that he really recalled talking about with Ron was Quidditch and schoolwork.

After waiting for Professor McGonagall to hand out the schedules, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville all headed down together towards the dungeons for Potions, a class which Harry had now come to enjoy, ever since Snape had stopped teaching it. Unfortunately for Harry, he no longer had the Half-Blood Prince's book, so he was fairly sure that his Potions ability was greatly diminished, and that Slughorn would be quite disappointed in him.

Still, as he entered the Potions classroom for the first class of the year, even with a potential assassin after him, he felt that this year would be his happiest year at Hogwarts.

**oOo**

**Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 13**

** Computer crashed and lost the original files for the chapter. Sorry for the delay.**

** Enjoy Chapter 13.**

**oOo**

It was the night of the party. Harry, along with most of the Seventh Years, had been horrified at the workload that they had been given, and this party was proving to be a welcome relief. Especially for Harry, as he had just stayed up until one A.M. finishing the massive workload that their teachers had given them for the weekend.

Harry found his classes to be quite interesting, and was glad that he came back for his Seventh Year. Indeed, the teachers had a lot of very interesting and important information now that they were legally deemed adults. That was the benefit of being a Seventh Year, as they would be able to learn spells that the Ministry had regulated to adults only.

As Harry turned his thoughts away from school, he focused on his date tonight. He wasn't sure about his feelings for Tracey yet. He definitely felt attraction, and his heart always sped up a bit when she was around. The kiss at the top of the Astronomy Tower had been wonderful as well.

Still, Harry had limited experience with girls. In fact, for his whole life, he'd really only associated with three girls of his age. There was Hermione, the brains of the so-called Golden Trio during their pre-war school days, as well as the mother hen of their group. There was Cho, his first crush and foray into dating. That had gone south quite quickly. Lastly, there was Ginny, his ex-girlfriend whom he now viewed more as a sister rather than a potential romantic interest. Sure, Harry had had contact with a lot of girls, most notably with Parvati Patil in Fourth Year, but he really didn't have much experience in the dating department, nor was he particularly good at figuring out the thoughts and feelings of girls. That was one of the main reasons the Yule Ball had been such a disaster for him.

Tracey was so different from the girls he'd previously dated. She was more funny, outgoing, and carefree. She was also more emotional, and wouldn't beat around the bush about her feelings like Cho. She'd express them, which Harry liked, and made things infinitely easier for him.

Harry and Neville headed upstairs an hour early in order to get ready for the party. While it was not as big of an event as the Yule Ball, Harry felt that he still wanted to look his best for a first date of sorts with Tracey.

Neville, meanwhile, had asked Hermione to accompany him. He'd claimed that they were going as "just friends," but Harry wasn't buying it. He was pretty sure that with the looks that the two friends had been giving each other, it wouldn't be all that long before one of them finally got tired of it and they became a couple officially.

As the two boys finished their preparations, Ron came rushing into the dormitory. He didn't even bother to shower, despite the fact that he looked quite sweaty from what looked like an intense Quidditch game, considering the broom in his hand. He immediately went over to his trunk and began to chuck his things around, looking for his dress robes. His wand, some trainers, robes, textbooks, and some owl treats for Pigwidgeon flew everywhere. Harry ducked a flying chocolate frog box, and was about to yell "Cut it out!", when Ron finally straightened, clutching his dress robes.

As he changed, he moved too fast in his haste to get ready, and tore a rip right into the robes. Cursing under his breath, Ron attempted to locate his wand in the mess he'd made. Neville, taking pity on the boy, raised his wand.

"_Reparo_"

Ron gave a thankful nod before struggling with his robes.

Harry, curious as to his friends' partner for the night, asked, "Who are you going with?"

Ron looked up and smirked, self-satisfied. "You'll find out yourself later."

Harry, shrugging his shoulders, beckoned to Neville, and the two boys headed down the stairs, leaving Ron to struggle with his formal attire.

A noticeable thump could be heard, and quite a bit of creative swearing. Ron had probably tripped and hit his head again.

Harry honestly didn't know what to think of Ron. He'd been a good friend during their early years, but Harry had matured a lot throughout the war, and it looked like Ron had not. That had caused quite a lot of rifts between the two of them, and he wasn't sure if he really considered Ron his best friend anymore.

**oOo**

Neville met Hermione in the Common Room, and the three Gryffindors waited a little bit for Ron, but when it became clear that he wasn't going to be coming down anytime soon, they headed down to the Entrance Hall instead, where they awaited the arrival of the Slytherins. They did not have to wait long, as they saw Daphne and Blaise ascend the staircase from the dungeons together, although Blaise was quite careful to not touch Daphne.

Daphne greeted them with her standard nod. Blaise muttered a hello. Tracey, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.

Still, as Harry saw Daphne, he could tell why boys often lusted after her, and she had often been considered the hottest girl of Hogwarts. Her assets and curves were quite prominently on display with the exquisite, form-fitting, red, strapless dress that she wore. Harry controlled himself with an effort, and made sure that his eyes didn't linger any longer than what was polite on Daphne.

He frowned, not seeing Tracey, and asked, "Where's Tracey."

Suddenly, he felt a pair of arms latch onto his arm.

"Right here." A voice said in his ear.

Harry turned, and he was floored by what he saw.

Standing there, Harry, perhaps for the first time, fully appreciated how beautiful Tracey was. Sure, he'd always thought that she was just as beautiful as her best friend, but he had never thought she'd look _that_ good.

Tracey smirked, enjoying his reaction. She'd spent three hours to get ready for the party, but it had all been worth it to see Harry's reaction.

"Well, Mr. Potter, when you're done staring, perhaps we should get going."

Off to the side, Hermione and Neville were laughing together. Feeling his face go red, he smiled back at Tracey and offered his arm, which she took.

Together, the six friends set off to Slughorn's party.

Before they went in, however, Harry stopped and asked Hermione to peek in for him.

"Why?" Hermione questioned.

"I want to see how many people I'm going to be gladhanded to before I can get some time alone with Tracey." He said simply, knowing that Slughorn would probably parade him around like some sort of prized kneazle.

Tracey smirked at him, "I'll save you from Slughorn. Don't worry about it."

Harry looked at her, "Are you sure? I don't want to leave you alone for the whole night."

Tracey smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. It won't be like the Yule Ball."

Harry winced at the memory, causing Hermione and Neville to laugh at him again. Even Blaise gave a small chuckle. Daphne remained stony and silent as usual, although Harry could perhaps detect a hint of mirth in her eyes. Or his mind could be playing tricks on him.

Harry squared his shoulders, and marched through the door to the party room, ready for whatever Slughorn could throw at him.

Throughout the first half of the night, Harry was firmly within Slughorn's grasp, unable to turn or move, and forced to smile and nod at nearly every one of Slughorn's famous former students in order not to anger any high profile names.

Fortunately for him Tracey came to the rescue, by dragging him onto the dance floor, while _subtly_ hinting that Slughorn had monopolized his time with her boyfriend, and that she'd really like to spent some quality time with him.

This rather embarrassed Slughorn in front of his students. Fortunately, the incident was glossed over by Tracey herself, but she claimed Harry as her prize.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Harry threw his arms around Tracey's waist, and muttered, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I couldn't take it anymore."

Tracey smiled sweetly at him. "I could tell. Now, how about a dance?"

Fortunately for Harry, he had gotten a lot better at dancing after that disaster at the Yule Ball. Unfortunately, Tracey seemed to be a master at dancing, which Harry assumed was part of pureblood etiquette.

Still, Harry enjoyed himself immensely, and he could tell that Tracey did as well. They occasionally bumped into Neville and Tracey as well, who also seemed to be having fun.

Daphne just seemed to hang back. She had released Blaise to his rather reptilian nature a long time ago, and he was currently dancing with some Sixth Year, who looked absolutely entrance by him. Daphne internally snorted. Another notch on Blaise's belt, most likely.

In the middle of the party, Ron made a scene, which wasn't all that unusual. By the looks of it, his date had ditched him, and he was looking around the room for a single girl. His jaw had nearly dropped to the floor when he saw Daphne, and he'd immediately made his way over. Daphne was already quite angry with him for his insensitive comments about Tracey, but when Ron began to leer at her, and try to get all touchy-feely with her, she snapped, and cast a quite powerful Stinging Hex aimed at his groin. In fact, he was quite lucky that Daphne had the brains to not use a castration hex. The consequences would be quite severe, which is why she didn't do it, as she would be violating the contract.

After the fiasco had died down, the party resumed with music, dancing, and a never-ending flow of drinks and food.

Harry and Tracey spent most of their time together dancing, and having a good time. They were both still healing from deep wounds during the war, and parties helped a lot. So did their budding relationship.

As the party wound down, the five friends, minus Blaise, left together. Tracey and Harry shared a good-night kiss, before Daphne and Tracey headed down to the dungeons together.

The three Gryffindors headed up to their tower together, with Neville and Hermione ribbing Harry about all the things that he may or may not have done with Tracey.

Still, as Harry pulled off his dress robes and got himself ready for bed that night, he couldn't help but remember every kiss, every touch, and every single word that he'd shared with Tracey that night. It was definitely a great first date, and Harry knew that there'd be a second. He'd make sure of it. Perhaps, this time, he'd find the one that was meant to be for him.

**oOo**

One Samantha Zabini was quite unhappy. No, that was an understatement. She was livid. Her son was not only betraying her secrets, but he also dared to disobey her. She resolved that there would be only one way to solve this problem. She would have to pay a visit to the school herself, as well as stopping her son from accessing the family vault. She knew that Blaise was quite attached to gold, which made it even more infuriating, as it was her who had to make the money. Samantha who had to sacrifice her body for the money. The boy just took it for granted, and then when she needed his help, he did nothing and instead helped her enemy..

She stalked towards her Floo, and called out, "Headmistress's Office, Hogwarts!", before sticking her head in.

After the usual spinning ride through the Floo, she emerged in Minerva McGonagall's Office to quite an… interesting sight.

Two naked teenagers going at it like a pair of rabbits on the Headmistress's desk.

Samantha really didn't want to know. She REALLY didn't want to know. She immediately pulled out and tried to rid herself of that memory.

After unsuccessfully attempting to rid herself of the rather explicit scene she'd just witnessed, she resolved to write a letter to the Headmistress.

_Dear Minerva McGonagall,_

_ I, Samantha Zabini, as the current guardian of Blaise Zabini, one of your students, request that you set up a meeting for me to see my son at the school at your soonest convenience. There are several family matters that I must take care of with Blaise, and I hope you will accommodate us a time and private place for us to conduct our family business. I really would like to talk to my son as soon as possible, so I urge you to set up this meeting quickly._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Samantha Zabini._

_ P.S. I suggest changing the password to your office. I got quite an unpleasant surprise when I arrived in your office and saw a couple of rather uncontrolled teenagers doing some unmentionable things._

Satisfied that her letter would convey both her wishes for a meeting, and her horror at what she'd witnessed in the Headmistress's office, she bid her owl to send the message. The owl took off, with Samantha following its flight. She turned her attention to the door. The mysterious man should be arriving with another payment at any time now…

**oOo**

** Sorry for the delay. Also, sorry if you guys wanted details of the party.**

** I do read all of your reviews. I just only respond to those that are asking me direct questions. Although, please keep questions to PM's.**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 14**

** Alright, so some anonymous reviewers decided to bring back the Ron bashing issue. I have a longer explanation for it, but to keep it short, this story contains AU elements. So, for those who don't like Ron bashing, I suggest you take your love for Ron, put pen to paper, and come up with a good story. **

** Also, I never said that this story was Ron-centric, even though he is the one in the contract.**

** Sorry to the rest of my readers.**

** NOTE: I am not Christian. I certainly don't believe in predestination. There ****are ****Christian references that seem like predestination. If you are, for some reason, intensely against the Christian faith, then… I have no words for you. Consider this a… notification?**

** Enjoy Chapter 14.**

**oOo**

September passed in a flash, and Harry couldn't believe how much work they were expected to do for their NEWTs. It was already a struggle for Harry to do around six NEWTs, he couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for Bill, Percy, Hermione, and all the others who had up to twelve NEWT classes to attend. Even Hermione was starting to complain about all the work, which was a big indicator of the amount of work that they were forced to do.

Still, Harry did all he could to maximize his free time in order to spend time with Tracey. The two of them had spent a lot of time talking, walking around the grounds, enjoying the last of the sun before winter came. They had gotten a lot closer, and Harry did everything he could to spend more time with Tracey. He'd even curbed his tendency to get into trouble in order to spend less time in detention. Although that wasn't hard, considering that not many people dared to antagonize him anymore.

Harry woke up early on the first Sunday of October, and decided against falling asleep again. Looking over, he saw that both Ron and Neville were sound asleep in their beds. He had forgiven Ron for his rather nasty words to his girlfriend, and they had become friends again, although Harry still felt a rift between them that, perhaps, would never be closed. Still, Ron was a pretty good friend when he wasn't being pigheaded.

As Harry entered the Great Hall, he was approached by Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Potter, there a few things of importance that I need to discuss with you."

Harry asked, "Professor, is this about Quidditch tryouts?"

Professor McGonagall regarded her young charge with surprise, "How did you know what was on my mind?"

Harry merely smiled. "I know how attached you are to that Quidditch Cup. I know that you're still wondering when tryouts are going to be held, considering our first match is in a little over a month."

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow, "And so…? What have you planned?"

"Tryouts will be held next Saturday. They would've been this week, but recently the schoolwork has really caught up to me." Harry replied, giving McGonagall a meaningful look.

Professor McGonagall chuckled. "Mr. Potter, your antics are not going to lighten the workload for you. Besides, I've heard that you've been spending quite a lot of time with a certain special young lady."

Harry shook his head in resignation. He'd originally intended for his relationship with Tracey to be somewhat private, but he figured that McGonagall was probably one of the most observant people at Hogwarts.

"Well, if that's all, Professor, I'd like to spend some time with the aforementioned special young lady."

"Actually, it is not, Mr. Potter. The school has now been hounded by quite a few reporters who want you to give them a full exclusive interview. I know you'd rather be left alone and that you'd rather not let anyone know about your private life. Unfortunately, the reporters won't give up until you give someone an interview. I advise you to give one of them what you want, so that the rest will leave you alone."

Harry frowned. He hated anything to do with the press. Ever since his bad experiences with the Daily Prophet during his younger years, he made every effort to avoid anything to do with reporters.

Still, he valued his privacy, and he knew that the last thing he wanted was for reporters to hound him after he graduated.

"Can you choose a trustworthy reporter with a good reputation for me, Professor?"

Professor McGonagall looked taken aback for a moment.

"You can select your own reporter, Mr. Potter. Surely you know that."

Harry nodded, "Of course Professor. But I really don't want to deal with them right now, and I trust you can choose a suitable interviewer for me."

Professor McGonagall knew that it wasn't the school's responsibility to choose a reporter for a student, but she felt that no harm would come from selecting a reporter for the young man. After all, Professor McGonagall knew some of the reporters quite well, and they were quite truthful in their articles, unlike the ever-prowling Rita Skeeter.

"Very well, Mr. Potter. I shall send you a notice of the interview as soon as a time has been scheduled."

Harry thanked his professor before heading towards the Gryffindor Table. Tracey, Daphne, and Blaise weren't up yet, evidently, so Harry just decided to quickly scarf down some breakfast before heading up to the Owlery. He had a letter to send.

Ever since the talk with Blaise and knowing that his mother wanted to kill him, Harry decided that instead of waiting for the woman to make a move, he'd meet her face-to-face, figure out her motives, and maybe convince her to divert her attentions elsewhere.

Now, obviously, Harry kept this a secret, as he was pretty sure that the majority of his friends would tell him he was being a complete idiot. Still, Harry was pretty sure that he'd be able to defend himself quite well against any duel or spellfire that Mrs. Zabini could throw at him. He wasn't duly worried, but as an added precaution, he make sure that he'd bring the Elder Wand.

He attached his already written letter to a school owl, and watched the bird fly off into the distance, before returning to the Gryffindor Common Room, and posted the date for the Gryffindor Quidditch team tryouts for the next Saturday. Noticing a still yawning Ron, and Neville coming down the stairs, he walked over and joined him.

Neville raised an eyebrow, surprised that Harry was up this early.

"How are you able to get up so early, Harry? I'm usually exhausted." Ron complained, yawning widely.

"I don't procrastinate as much as you, and get my work done before two A.M., Ron." Harry replied distractedly.

He'd noticed that Romilda Vane was giving him quite a creepy look, which she evidently considered sexy.

Harry quickly tugged on his two mates' arms, and said, "Let's get out of here. Romilda is doing it again."

Romilda had hounded Harry ever since the start of the school year, regardless of the fact that he'd told her he wasn't interested. She thought that he was just being coy with him, and was trying with increasingly desperate measures to try and hook him. She didn't dare use Love Potions again after the Ron fiasco last time, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't resort to different means to, as an irate Tracey quoted, "Sink her poisonous claws" into him.

Hell, in the past week, he'd gotten a very good look down the front of her shirt, and it wasn't his fault. Honest! He'd just been shoved up against the wall one day while walking back from the library, and she had been wearing a shirt with a V-neck that was way too low to be school appropriate.

He'd bolted immediately, of course, and told Tracey as soon as he saw her, unwilling to bollix up their relationship because of an interfering fan girl. Tracey had been incredibly angry, and it was only through Harry's argument that it wasn't worth detention and jeopardizing what little time they had together that deterred the vengeful Slytherin from taking action against the rather forward Gryffindor fan girl.

Even Daphne was rather sympathetic about his plight, which was surprising. Harry still had no idea what to think about the enigma that was Daphne Greengrass. They'd at least began to become somewhat cordial with each other, and there was no longer an air of tension and hostility between them when they talked. They'd even gotten to the point where they were on a first-name basis with each other, instead of the standard surname that Slytherins and Gryffindors used with each other. Still, it was easy to tell that there was still so much that Daphne was holding back.

Ron, meanwhile, had asked Harry to talk Daphne into taking him back. Harry had vehemently refused, telling him that he needed to patch things up himself. Ron, still rather immature at times, had no idea what to do, and sought out Hermione's help. Harry had no idea what had happened afterwards, as Tracey had dragged him off for a bit of "alone time."

Speaking of which, Harry and Tracey's relationship was moving pretty quickly. They were now spending almost all of their free time together, and they had gotten a lot more… physical with each other.

They were falling for each other hard, even though they didn't know it.

Throughout the day, Harry and Tracey spent all their time together, whether it was by the lake or in the library. Sometimes, their friends would join them. The rift between Ron and the Slytherins could not be healed soon, which prevented everyone from being together at the same time, but life could not have been better for Harry Potter.

He had a girlfriend, a group of best friends, and he was shaping his future in his final year of schooling. It seemed like Fate had finally stopped messing with him.

Who knew that it was her brother that was to cause a whole lot of pain and trouble for him…?

**oOo**

Harry couldn't believe he was here again. He'd thought he would never see this place again until he died. He wasn't dead, right? He couldn't bear the thought. Looking across at the rather clean, silent, train station, with the unnatural fog, he couldn't see anybody here. Nobody to welcome him aboard a "train" that would take him on what Dumbledore had called, "the Next Great Adventure."

He hadn't gotten to say goodbye to his loved ones yet. And Tracey was going to kill him the next time she saw him.

Suddenly, a feminine voice sounded behind him.

"You're not dead, Harry Potter."

Harry turned, and beheld a beautiful woman walking towards him, out of the unnatural mist. Upon closer inspection, Harry was immediately apprehensive. The woman radiated power. She was no ordinary woman. Even Dumbledore did not have nearly the amount of power that this woman wielded.

"Who are you?" Harry asked bluntly.

The woman chuckled softly at that.

"Ah, so refreshing, Harry. That's something that I like about you, Harry. You don't grovel and beat around the bush. I've had enough of people groveling at my feet and begging me to change their fate for them."

Harry eyes widened, as he understood the implications of what the woman had told him.

Harry started to get angry. "What did I ever do to you, or in some past life, huh, Fate? Why'd you have to mess with my life so much? Why did I have to get the shittiest hand in all of history in this game we call life?"

Fate smiled back at him serenely, eerily reminding Harry of a certain deceased Headmaster.

"Harry, I merely ensure that your Fate occurs. Your fate was preordained. I merely engineered events for your fate to happen."

Harry glared at the woman, not ready to accept that his lot in life had been drawn before he was even born.

Fate sighed, and sat down on a bench that magically appeared.

"Come, sit with me, Harry. There is something I need to discuss with you."

Harry, reluctantly, sat down. He knew that, no matter how angry he might be, it was a bad idea to piss off Fate. There would probably be hell to pay if he did that.

"Well? What is it that you have to tell me?"

Fate smiled sadly. "This is a long story, so settle down."

Harry growled in annoyance. "Just get on with it."

Fate acquiesced, and began.

"A long time ago, millennia ago, I lost a bet to Death."

"Death? As in the actual Death? The guy who made the Deathly Hallows?"

Fate nodded. "The very same. He is my brother. Since I lost that bet, Death won the right to interfere with the Fate of one person, and only one person. I tried to goad him into using this one-time pass on some inconsequential people in the past. Unfortunately, my brother has kept hold of that one-time pass for a very long time, and has used it as fail-safe for himself in case he ever does need to change the life of a mortal. And now he has a reason to use it."

Harry snorted.

"Knowing my luck, I'm the 'lucky' mortal that Death has taken an interest in."

Fate nodded. "Precisely. You are the Master of three items that make you Master of Death. My brother does not want to be beholden to anyone. He does not wish to be controlled by anyone. Thus, he has opted to change your fate."

Harry clenched his fists.

"When do I get a break? Why can't there be some peace in my life?" he asked of the world at large.

Fate continued, "That is the reason why he's contracted Samantha Zabini to assassinate you."

Harry glared at her. "This had better not be some joke."

Fate looked down, "This is no joke. He wants your death, and will stop at nothing to get it."

Suddenly, the two heard another voice.

"You are quite right, dear sister. I do wish for the death of my 'Master.' I thank you for bringing him into this realm, dear sister. You have made it infinitely easier for me to end his life now."

**oOo**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Bleeding Red and Gold Chapter 15**

** I wasn't even thinking about the cliffhanger last chapter. Honest! It just… kind of happened.**

** Enjoy Chapter 15.**

**oOo**

Daphne woke up early on Monday, and rather reluctantly slipped out of her warm bed and into the chilly Slytherin dorm air. Quickly making her way to the bathroom, she stripped off her pajamas and got into the shower. The hot water helped her wake up, and she began to contemplate her future. She found herself doing this more and more often nowadays.

Daphne was really unhappy with her lot in life. She was frustrated that her research into marriage contracts had not led her to an "out" of the contract, and she also hadn't found out why her ancestor had decided to create the contract in the first place and make it so magically binding. She also had no idea how to approach the marriage. For ever since that disastrous episode with the Weasel which had really hurt Tracey, things had just gone downhill from there.

Daphne was really happy for her friend. Tracey had found her happiness in the unlikeliest of people, but still she was happy. She was also grateful to Potter, which didn't happen often. After all, the Ice Queen tried not to make herself beholden to anybody, Boy-Who-Lived or not. She had taken down some of her walls and became cordial and polite with Potter, despite the fact that she was still had on that doll-like emotionless exterior mask. She did this in an effort to become Potter's friend, as she knew that it was doubly important not only for Tracey's budding relationship with him, but also if she ever decided to talk to the Weasel again.

Her parents had been pressuring her lately to get to know the Weasel better. She had mentally groaned at the very prospect of talking to him again. She had no wish to become a Squib, but she was increasingly reluctant to take the first step. After all, the Weasel would be losing his magic as well, wouldn't he? Wouldn't that also make him inclined to talk to her? Daphne resolved to wait, her pride and reputation not allowing her to be the first to bridge the gap that had split her apart from her future husband.

Daphne stepped out of the shower, dried herself off with a towel and some Drying Charms, before putting on her uniform for the day. As she was finishing up the final touches on her appearance, Tracey burst into the dorm room, looking like hell.

Her face was splotchy and covered with tear-tracks. Her eyes were red from crying. She looked like a mess. Daphne immediately made her way over to Tracey, who'd buried her head into her pillow.

"What's wrong, Tracey?" Daphne asked gently, wincing internally at how weak it sounded.

Tracey spoke into her pillow, her voice muffled.

"It's Harry." The rest of it was some unintelligible gibberish.

Daphne's first instinct told her that Harry had somehow hurt her friend. Perhaps the so-called Golden Boy had cheated on her best friend? She would kill him if that were true.

However, it didn't make any sense. Harry had, in all of her conversations with him, seemed like a noble gentleman. Daphne prided herself on her ability to read people, and she was fairly certain that her ability hadn't deserted her in this instance.

She rubbed her hand soothingly up and down Tracey's back and murmured, "Trace, I need to know what happened. I can't help you until I know what happened."

Tracey slowly turned her tear-stained face to face Daphne.

"This morning, Neville found Harry motionless and lifeless in his bed. He has no idea what happened, only that he and Harry had walked back to the Lion's Den together last night and had gone to bed at the same time. Then, this morning, it's like he died. He's in the infirmary right now while they try to get a diagnostic on what happened to him. He can't die, Daph. I need him in my life right now. He can't die."

Daphne was nowhere close to the best friend that one could have for comfort, but she made an admirable effort, holding Tracey close, and being there for her when she needed it the most.

When Tracey had calmed down somewhat, by which time it was well past lessons, Daphne asked Tracey how it all happened, and whether or not she was sure that Harry was dead.

"I saw him being levitated into the Hospital Wing. He looked pale and motionless. Neville and Ron were crying, Daph. They were crying. I just… I don't understand what I could've done in a past life to deserve this. Everyone that I love dies."

Daphne shushed her friend, and pulled her gently into the bathroom.

"C'mon. Make yourself presentable and let's go see Harry. I don't believe that after fighting a surviving a whole war with Voldemort the guy would just die one night."

Tracey didn't want to go, but with a little persuasion by Daphne, and a lot of patience, she finally went into the bathroom. After the door closed behind her, Daphne heaved a big sigh.

There was no way Potter, no Harry, was dead. Right?

**oOo**

Harry turned to see a mysterious cloaked stranger walking towards him. The man's cloak was completely black, with nothing embroidered on the cloak. He gave off a very disconcertingly chilly aura, and Harry shivered slightly. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he could sense that something bad was going to happen, and that it would be in his best interests to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. Unfortunately for him, there was no way out. He had no idea of how to get out, at any rate.

Harry immediately raised his guard, and carefully asked, "Who are you?"

The mysterious man began to chuckle, which quickly turned into a full-blown laugh.

"You do not recognize me, Harry Potter? Why, I'm hurt. It would be wise to know your servants, Mr. Potter, lest they overthrow you for your negligence."

Harry frowned. As far as he knew, he had no servants. At least, he definitely didn't have any human servants. Kreacher was a servant, but he most definitely wasn't human, and Harry doubted that he would visit his dreams anyways.

"What are you talking about? I don't have any servants?"

"Oh?" The man said, still chuckling. "I guess you have forgotten."

The man drew forth from his pocket a long, bone-white wand, and waved it in the air.

In the air, the symbol of the Deathly Hallows slowly formed.

Harry's eyes widened in recognition, causing the mysterious man to laugh again. Although now, Harry realized, he wasn't so mysterious. Of course, his revelation about the identity of the man did nothing to ease his wariness and uneasiness about the whole situation.

"The Deathly Hallows? They make the owner of the three items Master of Death. You… don't happen to be Death by any chance, do you?"

The man bowed, and his hood slipped off.

When he raised his head, Harry found himself staring into the face of a skull.

"Very aptly deduced, Harry Potter, or should I call you Master?" the man said mockingly. "I am Death. And you possess three items that control me, master me, and that is something I cannot accept."

Fate, who had been quiet up until now, said in a derisive tone, "Oh, dear brother, stop with your stupid glamours. Change your face back to what it normally is."

Harry looked confused. "He's Death. Isn't he supposed to look like a skull?"

Death glared at the two of them. "Common misconceptions, _Master_ Potter, but alas, my true form, as my sister says, is human."

Fate smirked. "You forget that the boy was raised a Muggle. He's seen enough skulls and skeletons in those horrid movies that the mortals make nowadays to be sufficiently unafraid of your attempt to strike fear into his heart."

Death, whose face had returned to normal, looked like an average middle-aged man. He wore quite an angry expression on his face.

"Now, _Master_ Potter, I shall be coming for you. Or more like, my agents shall be coming for you. I do not meddle in the affairs of mortals often, and you should consider yourself honored that Death himself has taken enough interest in you to kill you through his machinations."

Harry snorted. He was always particularly brazen in the face of danger anyways.

"Yeah right. I'm totally honored by you killing me, servant."

Death's face colored.

"Don't call me that! You will regret that." Death threatened.

Harry smirked at him.

"You can't do anything to me. I'm in a dream. Or more like, I'm in some kind of limbo between life and death. And you are my servant, are you not? I am merely calling you by your rightful title."

Death looked quite angry, but secretly, he had a deeper plan.

Death was hoping that he could keep this insolent Potter whelp here until the mortals thought he was well and truly dead, and cremated him or something. That way, it would solve the problem of him having to rely on an assassin to kill the boy. After all, if the stories were true, then this Harry Potter was quite skilled with magic, and Death doubted the abilities of that woman assassin to be able to kill the boy.

Unfortunately for Death, his sister was not ignorant of his attempts at trickery, and quickly warned Harry.

"Harry, Death is trying to trick you. You need to wake up now. When you came here, I only wanted to talk to you for a short while and send you back quickly. But my brother here has delayed things and now people have discovered your body. As you have said, you are in a limbo between life and death when you visit this realm, and your friends believe you dead. If you don't go back soon, they will cremate you, and then you will _actually_ be dead. Death is trying to stall for time."

Harry looked up, now well and truly worried about his health.

"How do I wake up?"

Fate smiled at him.

"You should be able to figure that out. After all, they're calling you."

"Whose calling me?" Harry said, quite confused, and beginning to panic over his situation.

Suddenly, he heard a faint voice.

"Wake up, you stupid idiot. I don't believe for a second that you've died. Wake up now, before I kick your ass and castrate you for the worry you've caused Tracey."

Harry frowned. That voice sounded suspiciously like Daphne. What was going on?

The voice grew louder and louder, and King's Cross grew fainter and fainter. The world turned white, and then Harry found himself looking into the eyes of a worried and irate Ice Queen.

"Uh oh…"

**oOo**

**Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 16**

**I may not update for next two days because of World Cup Finals. Then again, I just might surprise myself. Now for the fallout of Harry's mishap.**

**Enjoy Chapter 16.**

**oOo**

Daphne's eyes widened in shock when Harry's eyes suddenly flew open and he began breathing again. She hadn't expected him to just… wake up like that after what seemed like an eight-hour coma. She had already believed him to be dead when she had dragged Tracey into the Hospital Wing and she saw the crowd of people around Harry's bed, in various stages of grief. She had finally caught sight of his face after pushing her way to the front. It was a testament to her distraction that she didn't even glare at Weasley, who was sitting opposite her with a look of shock on his face, and tears in his eyes.

For Harry to suddenly just open his eyes and say "Uh Oh" was a huge shock, especially considering how close Daphne was to him.

Immediately Daphne pulled back, blushing, although nobody noticed in the absolute uproar that occurred when Harry was revealed to be alive and well. Tracey threw herself at the boy, too relieved to be irate, and the Harry's friends from Gryffindor all crowded around, each asking his or her own questions. Harry looked quite overwhelmed, and grateful when Madam Pomfrey finally came around, hearing all the noise, and immediately shooed most of the students away from the bed.

She approached Harry and asked, "Mr. Potter, are you feeling alright?"

Harry sat up, and nodded. "I'm feeling fine. There's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about?" Weasley asked incredulously. "We found you dead this morning!"

Harry shook his head. "Well, as you can see, I'm not dead. There's no problem."

Madam Pomfrey surveyed Harry with searching eyes.

"Be that as it may, Mr. Potter, I still need to look you over. I need to make sure that you don't have any internal problems that might harm you in the future."

Harry sighed in resignation, and nodded.

The mediwitch turned to the crowd.

"All of you, out! I need to do a physical on the boy, and it'd be appreciated if you left so that I could concentrate without your distractions."

Grumbling, most of the students left, including Harry's Gryffindor friends, although it looked like Weasel wanted to say something.

Tracey had a resolute look in her eye, and Daphne knew what her friend was going to do.

"Madam Pomfrey, I need to stay. I need to make sure he's fine."

Madam Pomfrey looked at the young woman. She knew about her relationship with Mr. Potter, the whole staff did. She felt sorry for her, knowing her familial situation, and nodded without a word. She turned to Daphne with a raised eyebrow.

Daphne blushed, and muttered, "Call me Potter's friend."

"Ms. Greengrass, I suggest you head back to class." the mediwitch said quietly, not believing the Slytherin girl.

"No, Madam Pomfrey, I'll stay with Tracey. We'll be quiet, we swear."

Tracey nodded in agreement.

Madam Pomfrey was surprised. She had treated many patients who had suffered "frostbite" from the Ice Queen. She was feared throughout the male population of the school. So why was she here to see Potter, and why would she want to stay any longer than necessary?

She shook of her thoughts, and proceeded to run a full diagnostic on young Mr. Potter.

Daphne was mentally berating herself. She didn't want to appear anymore interested in Potter than completely necessary. She had a reputation, even amongst the staff, to maintain. What was wrong with her?

Meanwhile, Tracey was grateful for the company. She was also prepared to hex Harry into oblivion for scaring her like that. She didn't need the scare, especially after everything that had happened in her life.

She didn't realize the inner turmoil within her best friend.

**oOo**

Harry was finally released by Madam Pomfrey after another hour of diagnostics. He was quite restless, and really needed to talk to Blaise. Still, he recognized that what had happened to him had made Tracey quite distraught. He spent the next half hour or so enduring her berating of her, before she finally calmed down a little.

"I'm sorry Tracey." He said for the umpteenth time, wrapping an arm around the girl and pulling her closer.

He did notice Daphne standing awkwardly in the doorway of the classroom.

To be honest, he was really shocked by Daphne's actions and how she had showed him, for the first time, that she cared for him. In her own way, she had shown him that she considered him a friend. So she did have emotions that she would show to the world. Harry, when he realized this, felt elated inside. He'd made a big step. Perhaps he could help Ron and Daphne get together. He honestly still held out hope that if the two sat down and sorted out their problems, they'd be happy, or at least they'd tolerate each other.

Still, for the time being, he only had eyes for one girl.

"Tracey, Hogsmeade is coming up soon. Do you want to… come with me?"

Tracey mock-glared at him.

"You're terrible at asking girls out, you know that Harry?"

Harry grinned back. "And look what my 'terrible way of asking girls out' got me. A beautiful, caring girlfriend."

Tracey turned away to hide the smile on her face, and snuggled closer to Harry.

Daphne let them have their moment for a little, before clearing her throat, causing the couple to look up. They both looked at her questioningly.

Daphne, uncomfortable with being a third wheel, said, "We should go down to dinner, and also figure out what we missed today in classes."

Tracey nodded. "Thanks for everything, Daph. I really appreciate you being there for me today."

Daphne smiled a true smile. "I'll always be there for you. You're not alone you know." She turned, and left, giving Harry and Tracey some privacy.

Harry, internally, was repeating the monologue, 'Merlin, the Ice Queen's human. I've got to tell Ron about this.'

Tracey pulled on Harry's hand.

"C'mon. We need to go down. I want to stay up here with you forever, but we need to get some dinner and figure out what we missed. It's our NEWT year after all."

Harry nodded, and the couple eased out of the empty classroom, before heading down to dinner.

Before parting, Harry told Tracey to ask Blaise to meet him. She agreed to set up a time for the two, and Harry smiled and kissed her in thanks, before the two entered the Great Hall and split along their House borders.

Harry joined the rest of his friends, who looked relieved to see him out of the Hospital Wing.

"Harry, mate, you gave us quite a fright. If you'd been able to hear us, you'd have nearly pulled off your ears due to Neville's shrill scream. Seriously, it sounded higher than a banshee's screaming."

Neville glared at Ron.

"I was just shocked. It's not every day when you wake up and find your best friend pale and motionless in his bed."

Ron nodded, and turned to Harry.

"What was it like…? Being dead I mean."

Harry smiled at him. "We've gone over this before."

"Before…?" Ron asked, looking confused.

Hermione sighed, and whacked Ron on the back of the head.

Ron yelped and rubbed his head, while asking, "What? When did he ever talk about fake dying before?"

Hermione shook her head in exasperation. "Don't you remember how Harry 'died' during the final battle with Voldemort?"

A look of comprehension dawned on Ron's face. "Oh yeah…"

Neville looked surprised.

"This happened before? You've died before?"

Harry groaned. He wasn't looking forward to the explanation.

Sighing, he quickly cast _"Muffliato_" around them. It wouldn't do if everybody knew the true story about what happened during the final battle. Especially if some part of it got to the press. He could just imagine the title: "Possessed Boy-Who-Lived potential danger?"

"Remember how I met you during the lull in the battle before Voldemort brought me back 'dead'?"

Neville nodded.

"I thought you had stopped fighting Harry. It was scary."

Harry frowned.

"Well, I did stop fighting. It turned out that Dumbledore had been raising me to die, because I had been another Horcrux, which you'll remember is what the snake was."

Neville's mouth dropped open. He hadn't known that Dumbledore could be cruel enough to raise a boy just to be slaughtered. Especially after the tragedies that had happened to the Potter family.

"Yeah, I was shocked, and I wasn't totally in my right mind at the time. I'd just destroyed a Horcrux, and I was feeling weak, depressed, and tired over the situation. I didn't want anybody else to die for me. All my life, people had died for me. My parents, Sirius, Dumbledore, Moody, and all the others who died because they couldn't or wouldn't give me up to the Death Eaters. So I decided to go to the Forest and end it, once and for all. And Voldemort hit me with an _Avada Kedavra._"

Neville looked shocked.

"You survived the Killing Curse for a second time? Are you immune or something?"

Harry shook his head. "I was teleported to some realm somewhere. It looked like a train station, so I dubbed it King's Cross. There I met Dumbledore, and he explained everything to me. He explained the Horcruxes, and he told me that I was one too; that the night my parents died, a piece of Voldemort's soul was severed from the original and attached itself to me. So the Killing Curse, in essence, killed one more piece of Voldemort's soul before you destroyed the final piece when you killed the snake, Neville."

Neville looked so surprised, a feather could've probably knocked him over.

"Anyways," Harry continued, looking amused at Neville's expression, "Today, a similar experience came to me. I was transported back to the weird King's Cross Station place. I'm told that it is the realm between life and death in this universe."

"What happened there, Harry? How did you even get there? Are you in any danger?" Hermione cut in, looking worried.

Harry shook his head, running his hand through his hair.

"It's fine 'Mione. I have no idea how I got there, but I think I'll be OK. I just need to talk to Blaise."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him.

"This was about Mrs. Zabini and the assassination, wasn't it?"

Harry reluctantly nodded. He didn't really want his friends to get in danger if they knew too much.

"Harry!" Hermione cried, shocked that he wouldn't tell her about it.

Harry replied, "I don't want you to get into danger, 'Mione. I spoke with a very powerful person who wanted me dead. While he can't hurt me directly, I don't know about you or anybody else. I don't want anything bad to happen to you because of me."

Hermione just shook her head, muttering "Damn your nobility."

Harry said, "You'll probably hear about it anyways. Just not now. I need to talk to Blaise first."

Hermione sighed. "Fine, but if you get hurt, you know that I'll find you and kill you again."

Harry smirked back. "You'll have to get in line. Tracey already called first dibs."

**oOo**

Samantha had just been paid another visit by the mysterious man. This time, she'd been prepared to figure out the man's identity, but as soon as she felt the man's cold, menacing aura washed over her, all thoughts of trying to force the man to tell her his identity vanished.

Afterwards, she shook her head in confusion. It made no sense. She had never feared a single damn thing her whole life. Samantha Zabini didn't ever feel fear. It was one of the reasons her son feared _her_ so much. Sure, Dementors could bring fear, but she never feared someone without any manipulation.

So why did she fear this mysterious stranger?

This time, he'd seemed slightly angry, and it looked as if the man had a hard time controlling his emotions. Samantha hadn't, yet again, been able to catch a glimpse of his face, but judging from the man's voice, he was pretty pissed. Samantha however, listened to his instructions and advice on how to kill Potter. She was meeting Blaise in a week. While she wasn't going to try for the kill with any type of spellfire, AK's were definitely unacceptable, she felt that she might be able to kill him through poison. Or perhaps a knife in the heart when he slept.

She had figured out where the Gryffindor Common Room was in her Third Year at Hogwarts, so it wasn't particularly hard to plan a night assassination.

Honestly, there were thousands of ways to make the boy die _accidentally_.

'Hm. The Gryffindor Tower _is_ rather tall. Perhaps the Boy-Who-Lived can emulate the late Headmaster Dumbledore? Especially if there was a broom with him. Broom malfunctions weren't uncommon… that could provide a good cover.' Samantha was deep in thought.

If she had paid closer attention, she would see that a school owl had deposited an official school note on the table.

**oOo**

** So, preferred method of assassination, anyone?**

** And you guys finally get to see the relationships developing a little more… Just please don't flame me about what you **_**think**_** the pairing will be. Keep in mind that I really don't know what the final pairing is anyways. So asking me or flaming me about it is useless.**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 17**

** Now that was a pretty epic World Cup Final. Germany won, so I was pretty happy. Now, it's back to school and writing! Thank you for your continual support.**

** Enjoy Chapter 17.**

**oOo**

The next Saturday, Harry very nearly overslept, and had to rush to dress and gulp down some breakfast in the Great Hall, before heading out to the Pitch for Quidditch Tryouts.

Honestly, if Neville hadn't shook him awake that morning, he probably wouldn't have woken up. For he was engrossed in a rather vivid dream, reliving the rather… special night he'd had with Tracey the night before. Their relationship had moved forward quite quickly despite the fact that they'd really only been going out a few weeks. Knowing his rather disastrous record with girls, Harry was being incredibly careful with Tracey. He didn't want to screw up what could be the best relationship of his life.

When Harry arrived at the Pitch, he nearly choked at the sheer number of people there. It seemed that every single First to Seventh Year that was not sick, and held even the remotest interest in Quidditch ended up turning up. Harry was rather displeased that nearly a quarter of the potential applicants had turned up without brooms. Owing to the sheer number of applicants, and the fact that he was pretty sure the talented players would bring a broom, he immediately dismissed those who didn't have brooms.

In hindsight, he probably should've been prepared for the uproar that followed that announcement, especially since he'd provided brooms for the few that forgot brooms in his Sixth Year. Still, he was not a charity program, and he had no idea where he'd find nearly a hundred brooms for all those without brooms.

When he had finally managed to herd the last of the dissenters of the field, with the help of Ginny and Ron, and with liberal uses of various hexes and jinxes, Harry turned to the near three hundred applicants remaining.

"Divide yourselves into groups of ten! Move!" Harry said, still not used to giving orders. Despite having taught a class Defence, and going through a whole war, he still wasn't used to the idea of leadership.

As the mass of people slowly formed into groups, Harry watched them closely. One thing that he wanted from his team was obedience. He was determined to root out the likes of Cormac McLaggen, as he had been really close to murdering the pompous git in Sixth Year.

Harry, just like he had in Sixth Year, made them fly around the Pitch in groups of ten, before making first cuts. When the number of applicants had been whittled down to near a hundred applicants, he finally began tryouts for individual players. However, it taken until noon for everybody to get off the field due to the number of arguments that had ensued. It turned out that being famous didn't mean people wouldn't argue with him until he was on the brink of explosion. The applicants were lucky that he had gotten better at controlling his temper, or he'd be sending quite a few of them to the infirmary.

Due to the fact that it was already noon, Harry called a lunch break, and Professor McGonagall, who had come down to watch tryouts, seeing the problem with sending people back and forth from the Great Hall, waved her wand and set up a table full of refreshments. Harry nodded gratefully at his Head of House as he helped himself to a ham sandwich.

"Rough day, huh, Harry?"

Harry turned, and saw his friends joining him. Harry noted that Daphne was here, and realized that Ron wasn't, as he was at the other end of the table, for once eating carefully for he knew that he couldn't afford to stuff himself before Keeping. Harry shook his head, and groaned quietly.

"They weren't nearly this difficult in Sixth Year." He whined quietly.

Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Suck it up, Harry. You're going to get much more attention when you leave school."

Meanwhile, Neville and Hermione were absolutely shocked that Daphne Greengrass of all people seemed to be talking to Harry in a civil, even friendly manner. Judging by the looks of many of the boys, they were experiencing shock and jealousy at the same time as they stared at the backside of the stunning Slytherin girl. Ron, too, rose and made his way over, but as soon as Daphne caught sight of his movement, strode off.

Tracey, after giving Harry a quick kiss, followed her friend. It seemed that neither one of them had been able to forgive Ron yet. That was problematic, Harry thought, but dismissed the problem of the betrothal to the back of his mind as he had a more pressing issue to worry about. How to systematically eliminate nearly a hundred people so that only six people remained who would be on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team this year.

He conjured a whistle, as he wasn't going to shout himself hoarse trying to be heard over the hubbub of over four hundred students' chatter. Blowing the whistle, he marshaled all the remaining applicants on the field in groups based on what position they were trying out for.

He first tried out the Chasers, and quickly narrowed the field down to five players. Dean Thomas, Ginny, and Demelza Robins were all excellent, just as he'd expected them to be after their Sixth Year triumph. However, there was some new talent that made up the rising up-and-coming class of Gryffindors. Jonathan Spinnet, the younger brother of Alicia, seemed to take after his older sister, as he was a wicked Chaser who specialized in precise passes that put his fellow Chasers in easy positions to score. Jeffrey Barker was the other new talent, specializing in speed breakaways in which he outstripped all his competition and scored one-on-one against the Keeper.

Harry decided to eliminate Barker, as he was too much of a flashy, one-man team for his liking. It was rather hypocritical, as the Seeker was pretty much a one-man team, but Chasers had to be a team player.

Spinnet he decided to bring onto the team in place of Dean. He told Dean his reasons, as he felt that Spinnet would be much more suited to the team, and especially Ginny, who was a prolific scorer. With the support from Demelza and Jonathan, she would be able to shine, and Harry felt that her ability to score was unparalleled in the school.

At least this year, the best flyers in the tryouts didn't argue with his decision. Spinnet was thrilled that he got a spot on the team, while Dean looked rather disgruntled, but accepted his decision.

Unfortunately, the less talented masses protested their elimination with greater vehemence, and it took quite a lot of shouting, coupled with some hexes for good measure, to get the last of the rejects off the field.

The Beaters were much the same, and Harry was pleased to find that Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote both were still the best Beaters of Gryffindor, and they quickly secured their spots onto the team.

After enduring another shouting match, Harry finally turned his attention to the Keeper position.

Ron did well, saving four out of four penalties, before an extremely tricky shot from Ginny flew past his outstretched fingertips and through the right hoop. Still, four out of five was not a bad score. Unfortunately, Geoffrey Hooper once again outflew Ron, and saved five out of five penalties, including an absolute bullet rifled from Ginny's arm that Geoffrey somehow managed to get a foot on.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Harry couldn't deny Geoffrey a spot as his attitude seemed to have improved quite a bit from when he first tried out in Fifth Year.

Ron stormed off in a huff, and Harry felt bad for his friend, but this situation was rather reminiscent of Sixth Year's tryouts, except for this time Ron was in Cormac McLaggen's position.

At least tryouts were over. It was already four in the afternoon. Harry was weary from shouting and hexing people, and set the first two Quidditch practices, before he headed off to the Great Hall, intending to eat a quick dinner, before heading back to the Common Room for some relaxation.

**oOo**

The traditional Halloween Hogsmeade visit was a welcome relief from hard Quidditch training, heavy loads of schoolwork, and a moody Ron who felt that his friend could've gotten him on the team based on a rather dubious technicality.

Honestly, Harry wasn't sure what he saw in Ron when he was younger, but he wasn't interested in dealing with a moody Ron. He spent the most time with Tracey, who he had begun to develop serious feelings for, which was scaring him. He'd never experienced anything like it before, and Harry was also wondering how he had ever loved Ginny or Cho. Those relationships seemed incredibly shallow in light of what he was feeling with Tracey.

Other times, he tended to spend time with Neville and Hermione. Neville, in particular, was becoming a very close friend, and he felt that Neville had somehow replaced Ron in their group.

He'd even begun to spend more time with Daphne, which was surprising in itself if it weren't for the fact that Daphne also seemed to actually enjoy to spend time with him. That fact had been quite shocking when it came to light.

He'd planned to spend the day with his friends, and Tracey had agreed, saying that they already had gone on enough dates around the castle, and that there was no need to spend a Hogsmeade trip on a date as well. Besides, they could snog just as much on a trip with friends as when they were alone.

Ron wouldn't be joining them, as he had recently found a new, or rather old, girlfriend in Lavender Brown. They planned on spending their time ensconced in Madam Puddifoot's teashop, which was a terrible prospect in Harry's opinion. Hermione agreed with him.

Harry wasn't sure what the idiot was thinking. He was getting married, for Merlin's sake, and he finds himself a girlfriend? He was just setting up both Lavender and himself for heartbreak.

Daphne, on the other hand, didn't seem to care in the slightest, and had agreed to go on the trip with them. Blaise was also dragged along by the two Slytherin girls, and they planned to make a day of it.

The trio of Gryffindors met the trio of Slytherins at the Entrance Hall, and after avoiding a few jabs of Filch's Secrecy Sensor, they were out into the chilly October air. They made small talk all the way to the village, where Neville suggested that they head to Honeydukes to refill on candy.

As soon as they entered the shop, they were embraced by sugary warmth, and they proceeded through the shop, commenting on the various sweets on display.

"Ooh, new Peppermint Sugar Quills, I've got to get some of those." Tracey explained, grabbing a box of the new Sugar Quills."

"Blood Pops!" Blaise exclaimed with gusto. That drew quite a few odd looks from the Gryffindors, and Tracey laughed.

"Those are for his mother. Blaise sends them as a Christmas gift every year."

Daphne meanwhile, picked out a variety of chocolates and fudges, and took them to the counter. Harry followed her with his own selections, and they waited together in line, while Tracey, Blaise, Hermione, and Neville headed off to the back of the shop to see if the shop had anything interesting back there.

"Harry, I'm worried." Daphne said quietly.

Harry, taken aback by Daphne's sudden proclamation, said, "Why?"

"If Weasley doesn't fulfill the contract, I'm going to lose my contract. I dunno about him, but I know for a fact that if I lose my magic and become a Squib, my family will throw me out. There is nothing worse than a Squib in Wizarding Society."

Harry was angry; he'd thought that he'd managed to abolish some of the more ridiculous Wizarding notions.

"Squibs are people too. Why are they at the bottom of the Wizarding hierarchy? I thought that with Voldemort gone, they'd be treated better than before."

Daphne shook her head at his naivety.

"The old Pureblood families that didn't support Voldemort are still there, and I can assure you that they definitely can't be categorized as 'Light' families. They still hold considerable sway, and they think that Squibs should be exterminated for being a burden on society."

Daphne's eyes showed her fear.

Harry reassured her, "That won't happen to you. We'll figure something out. I'll force Ron to marry you if it comes to it."

"Thank you Harry." Daphne said gratefully, not expecting Harry to defend her against his best friend.

"Call it my saving people thing." Harry said, with a wave of his hand, smiling at her.

Daphne found herself entranced by the easy smile, and those… adorable green eyes.

She quickly shook off those thoughts, and berated herself.

'Idiot! He's with Tracey. Don't fuck it up for them.'

The rest of the trip passed without incident. It was a fun trip, and the Halloween Feast was a delight to many, although Harry felt a certain sadness within him, just like he always did, because of his parents.

As Harry climbed into bed, he sighed in exasperation, wondering how he'd convince the redhead in the next bed to marry someone he evidently hated and feared.

**oOo**

**I'm assuming that each year has around 50 people, and since there are eight years with repeating Seventh Years, that's around 400. Give or take a few, and I get around a hundred for the tryouts.**

**Why yes, I'm bringing back Lavender.**

**Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 18**

** So we're finally here. We're finally back to where I stopped the original. As you all can see, the storyline is vastly different. I think that this storyline has become much more popular, and is a lot better than the original. It took me 26 days to get here, for which I'm pretty proud about, considering that the original took about nine months. Thank you to all who have supported me thus far. Now, without further ado, I bid you to read Chapter 18.**

**oOo**

Daphne Greengrass was quite angry with herself. She was experiencing some very strange feelings that she'd never felt before. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, but the fact that these strange feelings were directed towards Harry was quite disconcerting. Especially since she felt that it was possible it was attraction. Unfortunately, this wasn't the "Oh, he's so handsome!" passing fancy that Daphne had felt before when she'd had a childish crush on a Durmstrang boy in their Fourth Year. Merlin, that was embarrassing, Tracey still hadn't stopped giving her grief over her crush.

But, this, this weird feeling, this was worrisome. She knew that it was something deeper than a fleeting affection caused by her basest natures, which was quite strange, as she'd only known Harry for around two months. She'd known Blaise for six years, and she'd never felt anything more for him than acceptance bordering on friendship.

The fact that Tracey seemed to be head-over-heels for Harry didn't really help the situation either.

Daphne wasn't sure exactly _what _it was that she was feeling for Potter, but it definitely was something scandalous, if her dream that night was anything to go by. She quickly took a cool shower, and dressed in some comfortable Muggle clothing. Unlike most Purebloods, she didn't look down on Muggle productions, and felt that Muggle clothing was much more comfortable than anything wizards had come up with. Obviously she didn't wear Muggle clothing at school before Voldemort's defeat, but now with Voldemort gone she didn't give a shit about her fellow pureblood's opinions, and she would wear whatever she wanted.

While robes were required for class, they weren't required for weekends and during down time.

She really didn't know what she was feeling for Potter, and resolved to try and take her mind off things by finishing that Transfiguration essay that McGonagall had assigned last week.

While she was scratching out two concluding paragraphs that summed up her essay neatly, Tracey came down to the Common Room, still looking fairly tired. She had been coming in late frequently recently; hair mussed and looking thoroughly snogged. While Daphne didn't want to know the details of her love life, she rather envied her friend.

"Working on the Transfiguration essay?" Tracey asked, coming over and taking a look at the books strewn around Daphne.

Daphne nodded. She wondered if she should talk about her… strange feelings to her friend. Tracey had been her best confidante about her various problems over the years. However, considering the details of her feelings, she felt that she'd probably be better off keeping it to herself.

Tracey looked over her essay. "I think you got the mustache and beard color transformations mixed up for men, but it seems pretty good. Should get at least an Exceeds Expectations from McGonagall."

Tracey had always been a natural at Transfiguration. In fact, Daphne and Tracey had been very compatible with schoolwork. Daphne was a natural at Potions and Herbology, while Tracey was exceptional at Charms and Transfiguration. They helped each other at DADA, and worked together on their electives. It had made their schoolwork much more bearable throughout the years.

"Thanks." Daphne said, revising her essay, and finishing up her last few sentences.

"Well, I'm off to meet Harry." Tracey said, yawning, before turning and walking through the wall that hid the Slytherin Common Room.

Daphne stored her essay in her bag, and debated on whether or not to go after Tracey. She decided against it in the end, as she really didn't want to be a third wheel, and she really needed to sort out her feelings for Harry before she ever even approached to the two of them. As she was preparing to head down to the Great Hall for an early lunch, as she'd missed breakfast, a rather wild-eyed Blaise Zabini came barreling into the Common Room.

Spotting Daphne, he came running over. Daphne frowned; she was rather surprised that someone like Blaise could be rattled by anything. The guy had lived with an assassin of a mother for his whole life, and was calm and collected in almost every situation. Luckily for him, the Common Room was nearly empty, and so only a few people could see him in this state.

"Shit, Daphne, my mother's at Hogwarts. She's insisting that I go meet her. I was just cornered by McGonagall and she said that I needed to go to her office to see her because of 'family business.'" Blaise whispered after dragging her into a secluded corner and glaring off any potential eavesdroppers.

Daphne's eyes widened briefly, before she replaced her mask of indifference.

"Well, why are you here then?"

"Damn it, Daphne, quit it with your Ice Queen Act. I don't know what to do here."

"I can't help you, Zabini. I can only tell you that you'd better meet with your mother. She doesn't know about your interactions with Potter, right? Just see what she has to say. I doubt she'd do anything to you." Daphne replied coldly, while internally struggling to maintain her mask.

Blaise glared at her. "I thought you were my friend. Where's Tracey?"

Daphne shrugged. "She left to meet Potter. I don't know where she went."

Blaise swore under his breath, and left the Common Room quickly. Daphne watched him go with a slight twinge of guilt and regret, but quickly shook it off. She also suppressed the urge to go after Blaise, and instead, left the Common Room towards the Great Hall, her thoughts still muddled from her musings about Harry.

**oOo**

"Hello Blaise!" his mother greeted him warmly, arms outstretched.

Blaise, while wary of his mother, was at least comforted by the fact that she wouldn't kill him in the Headmistress' office unless she wanted the immediate scrutiny of the school, media, and the Ministry. He tentatively embraced his mother, not sure why she was showing him physical affection now, after so many years of showing him nothing even remotely akin to affection.

"Hello mother." He said stiffly.

Samantha Zabini frowned. "Is that any way to talk to your mother? So stiff and formal."

Blaise felt white-hot anger rise up in him, and he felt like screaming at his mother, screaming at her, telling her about all her faults, all her failings. It was irrational, this anger, but Blaise still felt this urge to act on it.

Blaise's mother must've seen the unhinged look, the anger in his eyes, because she took a step back.

"Are you okay, Blaise?"

Blaise nodded stiffly, not trusting his voice.

Samantha Zabini studied her son for another moment, before dismissing the matter with an almost imperceptible shake of her head.

"Anyways, Blaise, I'm here on family business."

"Very well, mother. What is it that you need from me?" Blaise said dully, trying to maintain the image of an obedient son. He needed this alibi until he could leave Hogwarts. He didn't want to become the latest in a long line of victims of his mother.

"Why, Blaise, I would've thought that you'd know. I need a meeting with Harry Potter. You can bring him to our house, can't you?"

"Potter said that he has plans over Christmas." This was a total lie. He had no idea about Potter's daily life, but his mother wouldn't know that.

"Oh? Well, if not this Christmas, then I'm sure he would have time to pay me a visit after graduation? After all, I would like to show my gratitude towards the savior of the Wizarding World."

Blaise replied, "I'll ask him. I don't know about his plans. For all I know he could be planning to disappear from Britain altogether after school."

Blaise's mother gave him a disappointed look. Blaise gulped. He knew that look. Whenever his mother gave him that look at home, pain would inevitably result.

However, this time, Blaise's mother merely stood up with a sigh.

"Well, do pass on my sentiments to young Mr. Potter, Blaise. Now I must be going. I need to head to Spain. I have an appointment with a famous painter and business there."

Blaise really didn't want to think about the fate of that painter. Instead he merely forced a smile on his face, bid his mother goodbye, and followed her down the spiral staircase, where McGonagall waited. After they exchanged pleasantries, Blaise was free to go.

He headed off to the Great Hall immediately, looking for Potter.

Meanwhile, Samantha Zabini knew that she'd need to take out her only son for her assassination to work at all. It wouldn't do for that boy to keep spreading around her secrets. It wouldn't do at all…

**oOo**

Blaise spilled all his familial secrets to Harry that night. Harry was, by now, quite worried about the mysterious Black Widow assassin that seemed to be lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike its target, which happened to be him.

Harry was thankful for Tracey's company afterwards.

"Have you noticed Daphne's been acting weird lately?" Tracey suddenly asked, breaking the silence between them as they sat staring at the night sky in their favorite place, atop the Astronomy Tower.

"Hmm?" Harry asked, confused. He hadn't noticed much about Daphne. She seemed just as cold as normal.

Tracey glared playfully at him.

"Eloquent as ever, I see. Daphne's been acting really weird lately. Didn't you say that the two of you were getting along quite well?"

"Yeah. She even started calling me 'Harry.' I take that as a win, right?"

"Wow, she started calling you 'Harry'. She definitely likes you enough."

"Yeah. We were getting along. She's civil with me for the most part anyways. Why? What's the matter?"

Tracey sighed. "I dunno. She's just been acting different. It's subtle, and I guess nobody else can pick it up, but I can tell that something's wrong with her."

Harry looked at her.

"Is there something physically wrong with her?"

"No, it's more like she's distracted a lot. I don't know why, she was always very focused. But, lately, I catch her staring off into the distance more and more often. I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe she's going through a phase or something in her life."

Harry looked at his watch, and started. It was nearly curfew.

"It's almost curfew. We need to get back."

Tracey whined, and protested. She'd been curled up in Harry's arms for the better part of the hour, and it was quite comfortable.

"But Harry, you're so comfortable. I could fall asleep like this after a couple Warming Charms."

Harry indulged her in a few more minutes, but then gently helped her up. She grabbed a fistful of his robes, and proceeded to give him a good, long snog.

After they broke apart, with Harry rather glassy-eyed, Tracey smiled at him and said, "Good night, Harry. You don't have to walk me back down. It is almost curfew, and I don't want you caught and spending _our_ time in detention. So go back to the Lion's Tower, OK?"

Harry reluctantly nodded in agreement. Walking down with Tracey usually held the promise of another good, long snog, but he did recognize that it was nearly curfew, and he had no wish of spending any time in detention. He watched Tracey disappear off towards the dungeons, before making his way towards Gryffindor Tower.

**oOo**

The next day, there was quite a hubbub in the Great Hall. The Slytherin Table was completely empty. Harry was quite worried about his girlfriend, and wondered what could have possibly happened.

Then suddenly, all four Head of Houses including McGonagall entered the Hall briskly. All four looked grim and Slughorn was looking rather shell-shocked. The walrus-like old man also looked rather sad, and quite anxious.

Professor McGonagall reached the front of the Hall, and silently cast a charm on herself, before calling for attention. The students noticed that now Professor McGonagall's voice reverberated throughout the school, alerting all students in the building.

"Students, please report immediately to your Common Rooms. Prefects, make sure that all students are in their Common Rooms. There will be an announcement in fifteen minutes' time in the Common Rooms. I cannot stress the importance of this meeting. Failure to attend will result in detention every weekend for the rest of the year, and a docking of two-hundred points. I hope that each and every one of you will understand the importance of this meeting."

There was a great clatter as all the students made their way to their respective Common Rooms.

"What do you reckon it's about, mate?" Ron asked, walking alongside Harry.

Harry shook his head.

"I have no idea. All I know is that it has something to do with the Slytherins."

Ron snorted. "Of course it does. There hasn't been an incident that doesn't involve the likes of the Dark wizards and witches in Slytherin."

Harry shook his head in exasperation. "You're going to be married to one of them, Ron. I suggest you change your prejudiced views."

"Prejudice?" Ron spluttered. He was about to argue on, but was cut off by Neville who had joined them.

"I heard it was a murder." Neville said quietly.

The other three's eyes widened in shock.

"Where did you hear that?" Harry asked, after casting Muffliato at those near them.

Neville replied grimly shaking his head, "I heard it from some of the ghosts. They were whispering about some Slytherin student getting murdered or something."

Harry's stomach clenched. There was no way. It couldn't have been her, could it?

Neville noticed his friend's face pale, and rushed to reassure him.

"It's not Tracey. What are the odds?" Neville tried to soothe his friend's worries.

Still, Harry flashed back to the dream with Fate and Death. It would be just like Death to take away someone he loved. He could just imagine him laughing at him now. His fists clenched.

_"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death."_

**oOo**

** Before some of you start the clamor of "OMG why is Tracey dead?" I'm just going to put it out there that I DIDN'T say she was dead. I'm not confirming or denying it. **

** Oh, and sorry about the cliffhanger. This one was totally intentional. **

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 19**

** A/N: So I'm not that evil. I totally wouldn't just disappear on you guys for like a week and let you guys stew. Hehe.**

** Oh, and contrary to popular belief, the same person (me) wrote both the original and the REDUX. Just saying. XD**

** Warning: Some rather unpleasant matters in this chapter. Don't read if easily offended.**

** Enjoy Chapter 19.**

**oOo**

(_The Night Before…_)

Assassinating someone in a school of over a thousand students was a logistical nightmare. There were so many things that could go wrong. It wasn't just the fact that the previous Headmaster, Dumbledore, had set up some pretty damn strong magic detectors that detected when an Unforgiveable was used. There were so many possible witnesses, with thousands in the same building. Poison was not an option. The House Elves tested the food before they sent it out. They said it was for quality, but nobody who owned a House Elf really believed that.

Indeed, the best way to kill anyone in Hogwarts would probably be using Muggle means. It was one of the reasons why there weren't any shadowy Pureblood fanatics who went on killing sprees of Muggle-borns at Hogwarts and then hiding away. They considered themselves above Muggle ways of killing, which made their job nearly impossible. Nearly all magical means of killing someone were monitored by the school, and those that were not were so obscure that nobody really remembered what they entailed.

It was now two A.M. Samantha Zabini ghosted through the hallways of Hogwarts. She was under an Invisibility Cloak that she'd just bought with her recent paycheck from the mysterious old man. It would make her life so much easier.

Her target was most likely either in his Common Room or his dormitory. Samantha thanked the gods for the pureblooded bigotry of Slytherin House, as the password nearly always had something to do with blood-purity, and it generally didn't take much more than a couple guesses to guess the correct password.

Reaching the blank stretch of wall that hid the Slytherin Common Room, Samantha cautiously waved her wand.

"_Homenum Revelio."_

There was nobody near her.

She carefully put her wand away, and whispered, "_Pure-blood._"

The wall remained unmoving.

Samantha frowned, and tried again, "_Filthy Half-breeds."_

The wall remained resolutely shut.

"_Mudblood._"

At that, the wall opened to reveal the empty Slytherin Common Room. Treading inside carefully, Samantha took a cautious look around. Seeing nobody around, she removed her Invisibility Cloak. It would be too cumbersome later for her mission. She did take the precaution of throwing her hood over her head, and concealing her face in its shadow, in case she was ever discovered. It would provide a modicum of safety from potential eyes.

She slowly made her way to the Boys Dormitories, and Silenced her feet. She didn't want to be given away by any potential creaks on the staircase. She listened carefully at the door, but she couldn't hear any signs of human movement, only some gentle snoring.

She quickly ascended the stairs, and headed towards the very back, where she knew the Seventh Year dormitories were located. She paused at the doorway, staring at the silver knife in her hand covered with a deadly poison. She'd taken incredible pains to make sure that the poison wouldn't drip onto the floor. The less evidence there was, the better.

She hesitated, which was quite unusual for her. But this was an unusual case. He was her son. She didn't want to kill him. He was both useful, and her flesh and blood, although his father had been from one of her conquests for gold.

She steeled her resolve. This was for her ultimate mission. If the mysterious man delivered the sum promised, which she had no doubt that he would, considering how he'd already paid a part of it, she would never need to worry about marriages, children, or money ever again.

As she entered the boys dormitory, ghosting silently to the farthest bed in the corner, a faraway deity watched. Death smiled. Money was powerful indeed.

**oOo**

Harry's stomach was clenched with fear and anxiety. If Tracey had been murdered, he swore silently to himself, he'd never rest until he found the one or ones responsible.

His friends tried to reassure him, but quickly seeing it as pointless, decided to leave him alone. They were all congregated in the Common Room, and the four friends had managed to grab armchairs before they were all taken.

Ron had casually turfed a First Year out of an armchair, but Hermione hadn't seen it. Neville was preoccupied by his thoughts, and Harry just couldn't bring himself to care at that moment.

When Professor McGonagall entered through the Portrait Hole, the Common Room fell silent immediately, which was a first.

Looking out at the students with a grim and severe look, she began her announcement.

"Students, yesterday, a grave incident occurred in the Slytherin Dorms during the middle of the night. A student was found dead in his bed. We believe he was murdered."

At that, the room exploded into screams, shouts, accusations, and general mass chaos. It took a couple of rather loud bangs issuing from the end of Professor McGonagall's wand before order was restored. When the room was silent once more, Professor McGonagall began again.

"Blaise Zabini was the unfortunate victim of this incident."

At this, Harry's heart soared, but he still felt a pang at the loss of life. Sure, he may not have been the best of friends with Blaise, he did rather like the Italian boy. Blaise had also warned him about a potential assassination attempt by his mother, and he owed the boy. Harry couldn't help but think that his death could have something to do with his mother. If his mother really was an assassin, then it wasn't impossible that Blaise was murdered, right? Especially since Blaise's mother was IN the castle yesterday.

The only thing that kept Harry from voicing his opinions to his friends was the fact that Blaise's mother was, in fact, his mother. And he just couldn't imagine any mother killing their own children. It just… didn't happen.

Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall was speaking.

"—if anybody has any information regarding the murder, no matter how vague, I would like to see you in my office so that we may discuss it. The school will get to the bottom of this horrible crime, and we shall catch the culprit, make no mistake. Now, for the next few days while we search the castle in case the culprit remains in the shadows, all students will sleep in the Great Hall much like during the search for Sirius Black back in 1993.

Harry shook his head at that statement. He could always check the Marauder's Map, but somehow, he doubted that the culprit was hiding in the castle. Still, he could understand McGonagall's caution. It was, according to a whispered bit of information from Hermione, the first time that a student had been murdered on the grounds since Moaning Myrtle had been killed by the basilisk over fifty years earlier.

"If there are no questions, then that is all. You are free to go. Enjoy the weekend, but please be aware of your surroundings and be careful at all times."

With that, Professor McGonagall turned and strode out of the Common Room.

The room immediately burst into conversations, with heated debates, and whispered rumors already spreading like wildfire.

Neville turned to Harry.

"She's safe, Harry. She's alright."

"Yeah…" Harry said quietly, still mulling over the murder.

Ron came over, never one to be left out of a conversation.

"Reckon it was You-Know-Who's followers? I bet it was them. They always go on about killing traitors to their cause."

"Ron, the war's over. Call him Voldemort." Harry said exasperatedly. He couldn't get over how people _still_ were afraid of him.

Ron grimaced. "Sorry. Habit. Anyways, do you reckon it was Voldemort's followers?"

"I dunno. Maybe." Neville said.

Harry however, was shaking his head.

"It's not Voldemort."

Neville looked at him curiously.

"How do you know?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Hermione chimed in.

Both Ron and Neville glared at her. She backed off.

"OK, OK. What I meant to say was, Voldemort's gone. He's dead. His followers were all either killed or sentenced to Azkaban. I mean, who would have the ability to actually plan out an assassination in Hogwarts? We killed or captured the Lestranges, Dolohov, Macnair, Yaxley, Thicknesse, the Malfoys, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Rowle, even Pettigrew. Besides, don't you think that someone who followed Voldemort who actually managed to plan a successful assassination would go for Harry instead of Blaise?"

As usual, Hermione's logic shut up both boys.

Harry shook his head.

"I'm going to see Tracey. I need to know what happens. I owe Blaise. I just have this feeling that if it weren't for him warning me about his mother, he wouldn't be dead."

The three others watched him disappear through the Portrait Hole.

"Blimey, you don't think he blames Zabini's mother, do you?" Ron asked incredulously. He had never gotten to the point of calling the Slytherins by their given names.

"That's impossible. What kind of mother would kill their own children?" Neville replied.

Hermione was nodding in agreement. Ron voiced his agreement as well.

After all, they all had loving families who cared for them, even sacrificed their sanity for them. They were certain that a mother's love would prevent her from killing her own child no matter what.

How wrong they were.

**oOo**

Daphne Greengrass was in a state of shock. It was a testament to how that feeling permeated through every single Slytherin student that nobody even noticed that the Ice Queen's mask was down, and her emotions were clearly shown on her face.

One of their own had been murdered. And worst of all, it was Blaise, somebody Daphne had actually gotten along with. Sure, she may not have trusted him, but he was still a rare friend that she'd found in the snake pit.

Tracey was inconsolable. She'd been a lot closer to Blaise than Daphne. She had finally calmed down a little while ago, and was now sleeping soundly.

Earlier that morning, a loud, blood-curdling scream was heard throughout the whole House, which had come from Theodore Nott when he woke up to find bloody bed curtains and Blaise Zabini's body lying on the floor, eyes staring blankly at the staring in a look of abject horror, and a hint of resignation. The whole House rushed to see what had happened, and two Fifth Years were dispatched to notify the staff immediately.

When their Head of House, Professor Slughorn, and Headmistress McGonagall had finally arrived, they had been horrified. The situation would've been funny, especially given Slughorn's rather interesting pink pajamas, but in the face of the murder, nobody even smiled.

Now it was morning, and the Slytherins were finally allowed out of the Common Room. Daphne resolved to find Potter. She was pretty sure that Blaise was killed because of him. That boy was a danger magnet. And yet, that very fact made him so alluring. Daphne really couldn't help herself, but she was thinking about Harry. Damn that stupid contract. Damn her feelings. Why couldn't she control herself? She couldn't help but begin daydreaming about his green eyes, his wonderfully fit, toned -

Her thoughts were interrupted by Tracey, who looked tired, eyes red from crying.

"Hey, are you alright?" Tracey asked her, hiccupping.

"Wha-? I should be asking you that question Tracey."

Tracey smiled, but it was a smile devoid of happiness.

"You just looked so different. There was some distant look in your eyes. Don't tell me that the Ice Queen is finally thawing, and that you finally have your eyes on a boy? Have you finally fallen in love with the Weasel?"

Daphne spluttered at the first question, and was speechless at the second.

"I- I don't love anybody. And certainly not Weasel!"

Tracey sighed, turning to look at the crowd of people still at the foot of the boys' dormitories. It was a testament to how somber the mood was that Tracey didn't even try to tease Daphne about her lack of knowledge like she would've normally.

"I can't believe he's gone. He survived a deadly war, and then he just gets murdered one night at school, at the so-called 'safest place in the world?'"

Daphne put an arm around Tracey. She normally avoided human contact. It was more because of her mask rather than a dislike for another human's touch. Still, this was different.

"I know. I'll miss him too, which surprises me. Blaise was so quiet, and he always stuck to the shadows, but he was there when we needed him."

They just sat in silence, when the wall hiding the Slytherin Common Room slid open again.

Professor Slughorn came in, and catching sight of the two girls sitting on the couch, he came right over.

"Ms. Davis, Mr. Potter is looking for you. He says he's worried about you, and that he has some questions."

"Thanks, Professor. Where is he? I'll go meet him now."

"Last I saw him, Mr. Potter was in the Great Hall. I suspect he'll stay there until you show up."

With a nod and a smile at the Potions Master, Tracey stood up to go.  
"Trace, wait."

Tracey turned.

"Can I come?" Daphne asked in a quiet voice.

Tracey looked at her with a "What kind of question is that?" look.

"Of course. Now come on. I bet Harry's been worried sick."

Daphne stood, and followed her best friend towards the Great Hall. Perhaps Harry would have some answers. Even if he didn't, spending some time in his company wasn't a bad thing at all. Not at all…

Perhaps the contract did have a silver lining for Daphne. Meeting Harry Potter certainly wasn't a bad thing.

**oOo**

** I'm pretty sure most of you saw it coming. I know that the idea of a mother killing her own son might be absolutely reviled by some of you. I don't have quite the same views. (No, that does not mean that I condone, in any way, murder, and especially the murder of one's child.) But this is fiction. **

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 20**

** In light of getting absolutely no feedback last chapter, I have to ask, was it terrible or something? You can tell me it was. I won't mind. I'll probably strive to fix it up if it was that bad.**

** Oh, and I'm not sure if Hogwarts celebrates Thanksgiving. Since the school is located in Europe, I doubt it, but I'm incorporating it as a minor holiday with a feast. Nothing like Christmas or Easter.**

**oOo**

The murder of Blaise Zabini was being thoroughly investigated by the Ministry of Magic. In fact, it wasn't uncommon to be walking between classes and see Aurors congregated around the school, whether it was near the dungeons, in the Great Hall, or in the Entrance Hall.

The investigation lasted for around three weeks, before the Aurors finally gave up on searching for evidence in the school. Whoever the assassin was, he or she was very good.

It just cemented the feeling in Harry's gut that it was Samantha Zabini. The thought sickened him, and he could tell that his Gryffindor friends didn't believe him when he mentioned it. However, when he voiced his suspicions to Tracey and Daphne, they seemed to agree with him.

Still, three weeks had passed with very little incidents, and the school populace was slowly calming down after the shocking assassination.

The work load was slowly getting more bearable these days, and Harry no longer had to stay up late on Friday nights to complete his work for the next week. It was a relief to be able to get enough sleep, and still have enough time to spend with his friends and girlfriend.

Ron was quite happy when Professor McGonagall had announced that the Thanksgiving Feast would be held on Saturday, despite the actual holiday occurring on a Thursday. The main reason for the change was that it would probably be better for any American students to celebrate the holiday over a weekend instead of on a school night. For Ron Weasley, he preferred to have enough time to eat. Thus, having it on a night where he wasn't obligated to do homework was a definite plus for him.

November passed quickly, but Harry was becoming plagued with various issues, not the least of which was the fact that his nightmares were beginning again.

Ever since Voldemort's fall, he no longer had gripping nightmares that had him waking up in a cold sweat and his roommates shaking his arm. However, recently, he'd been getting disturbing flashes of images at night. They were always the same images: a poisoned knife, a cloaked face, and a scream before he woke up. Thankfully, the nightmares always seemed to wake him up in the morning instead of the middle of the night, so he got enough sleep.

Another problem presented itself in Daphne Greengrass. Harry wasn't sure what he'd done, but Daphne had been acting really weird around him ever since the October Hogsmeade trip. It was as if she was simultaneously trying to be near him while avoiding him. It made no sense, and whenever Harry tried to talk to her, she'd hide behind her Ice Queen mask.

The last problem came with the announcements that Professor McGonagall made at the end of the Thanksgiving feast. Harry was just finishing up his treacle tart when the old, stately Headmistress rose and tapped her spoon against her goblet to call for attention.

"After some discussion and debate amongst my colleagues, I am pleased to inform you all that this year, we will be holding a Yule Ball on Christmas Eve, to be held here in the Great Hall. This festive event was discontinued during the Wars with Voldemort, except during the prestigious Triwizard Tournament, in light of the grim circumstances. However, in light of Voldemort's defeat, we will be hosting the event as both a time to unwind and socialize, as well as celebrating the defeat of the Worst Dark Wizard in history. So, be sure to find a date, and learn to dance." Professor McGonagall said with a stern look at the boys, most of whom squirmed uncomfortably at the thought of dancing and finding a partner.

"For those of you who attended the Yule Ball of 1994, your behaviour, as a whole, was excellent. I expect at least the same level of behaviour at this Ball. If anybody tries to spike the punch with alcohol, they will _not_ enjoy the consequences." She said sternly, referring to the prank that the Weasley Twins had pulled on the whole school. During Harry's Fourth Year, they had evidently planted some Muggle alcohol, whiskey or something, in the drinks. They received a month's worth of detention, but they said it was totally worth it to see the reactions of the people who had drunk the spiked punch.

"That is all the announcements for upcoming events. Now, Mr. Filch has requested that I once more remind you that items from various enterprises including Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes are expressly banned…"

At that point, Harry tuned out Professor McGonagall, especially when Neville tapped him on the shoulder.

Harry turned around and looked at him questioningly.

Neville blushed and said in low tones so as not to be overheard, "D'you reckon Hermione will go with me?"

Harry smirked at his friend. He now knew that he hadn't been wrong when he'd caught sight of the two of them making eyes at each other.

"I dunno Neville. I can't say for sure, but with the way that you look at each other, I think that the answer should be pretty clear." Harry replied just as quietly.

"You really think so?" Neville asked in a whisper, uncharacteristically timid about this.

"Look, Nev, it's easy. She's sitting right there. Why ask me when you can just ask her?" Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"B-But—"

Just then, Professor McGonagall's announcements ended, and Hermione had turned her head to focus back on her friends. Neville stopped talking abruptly and went bright red, but thankfully, Hermione didn't seem to notice.

Meanwhile, Ron turned to Harry and asked, "D'you think Daphne will say yes if I ask her?"

Harry groaned inwardly. Evidently, Ron hadn't learned that the Ice Queen hated his guts. Although, truth be told, Harry couldn't get a good read on the girl, so Harry really couldn't say for sure.

"I dunno, Ron. I thought you liked Lavender? Why don't you ask her?"

Ron looked down at his feet.

"Look, Harry, I need to fulfill that contract. If I don't, there'll be serious repercussions. I like Lavender, I really do, but there is no way that I'd be able to be with Lavender and fulfill that bloody contract. I think that this Ball might be a great chance for me to get to know Daphne better."

"So talk to her, Ron. It's not that hard." Harry said, despite knowing that Daphne would probably hex first, talk later. Ron needed to make up for his mistakes, and if it meant taking some pain in the process, then he needed to take it.

Ron looked down.

"She still hates me. I can tell whenever I'm around, she avoids you, and she's always around you when I'm not there."

Harry was surprised that Ron was that observant.

"Well, you just need to fix things with her, don't you think? She'll probably appreciate you making an effort more than anything that I could do for you." Harry said, correctly interpreting Ron's purpose in asking him questions.

Ron sighed. "I can't even get close to her. Whenever I'm within twenty feet of her, she glares at me. I have no doubt that if I talk to her, I'll be hexed into oblivion."

Hermione cut in.

"Ronald! You're a Gryffindor. Merlin, how did you get into this House if you just shy away from any confrontations? If you really want to go with her, you have to talk to her."

After receiving similar advice from Neville, Ron reluctantly agreed to talk to Daphne. Taking pity on his friend, Harry offered to set up a meeting with the girl, but Ron refused. He seemed to really have taken their advice to heart, and was planning to do everything himself "for once in my life".

As all the students were leaving the Great Hall after the Feast, Harry himself turned his thoughts to his own date. He would have to ask Tracey first thing the next morning.

**oOo**

Samantha Zabini made it to Spain easily. The stupid Brits didn't even think to investigate her, and only sent her a formal notice about her son's death, along with their "sincere condolences". It was quite easy for her to play the grieving mother role, and she pulled it off perfectly. After attending Blaise's funeral, dressed in black and crying her crocodile tears, she had left Britain and headed for Spain for her now rescheduled meeting with the famous painter.

The famous painter turned out to be quite dull, and all he ever talked about was various Muggle works of art. Samantha had no wish to listen to him talking about the mysterious smile of the famous Muggle painting, the _Mona Lisa_, and he also didn't care that some painter named Raphael had inserted his own likeness into one of his paintings.

She had originally planned on trying to seduce the man and maybe have him leave her his fortune, just like she'd always done, but he was just so incredibly dull, that Samantha knew he was a hopeless case. In any case, when she completed the Potter assassination, she would have enough money to last for eternity.

Life was good, but she still had to complete that one last contract before she could relax for the rest of her life. She was now forty-three years old, despite looking not much older than twenty, and she wanted to have time to really enjoy the money she'd…made before her death.

As she was relaxing by the pool at the hotel she was staying at, she was suddenly conscious of a presence behind her, and irrationally, began to feel cold and fearful. Thinking it to be a rogue dementor or something equally unpleasant, she quickly jumped up and turned around, wand at the ready, the Patronus Charm on her lips, before registering the fact that it was only the mysterious man standing there.

She shuddered slightly, still not knowing how he was able to exude such a presence.

"Thank you, Samantha, for your dedication to my contract." The man began, bowing slightly.

"You will be compensated for the loss of your son." The man continued, extending his arm. In it, there was a Gringotts draft with the sum of 500,000 Galleons printed on it, to be paid to her.

Samantha thanked the man for his generosity.

The man left, and Samantha watched him go. She had never figured out where he came from. He had always disappeared quickly after his periodical visits. She watched him intently, but suddenly, a large splash in the pool made her turn her head. A rather large man had just jumped into the pool like a gigantic cannonball, and it had splashed water everywhere. When Samantha turned back around to try to catch a glimpse of the mysterious man, he was gone.

'Still,' Samantha mused as she looked down at the Gringotts draft, 'five hundred thousand Galleons was definitely a good pay-off for the murder of Blaise.'

**oOo**

Harry was in a bit of a dilemma. It was the second week of December, and he still didn't have a date for the Yule Ball.

Originally, he'd wanted to go with Tracey, but she'd told him when he asked that she was planning to go to the States for Christmas to visit her remaining relatives living there. She was apologetic about the whole affair, and gave him her "express permission" to go with anybody, so long as the relationship didn't get too serious. She even suggested that he go with Daphne, since both of them were without a date. Daphne, having gone with Blaise to nearly all formal events in the past, was now without a fallback plan to formal events. She also really didn't want to go with Ron, as was evidenced by Ron's rather disheveled and angry look when he returned from his conversation with Daphne.

Evidently, from what he gathered talking to both sides of the conflict, Ron had refused to apologize to Daphne for his earlier actions, and came off as rather perverted and lewd in his attempts to get Daphne to go with him. Daphne, because she was to eventually marry the redhead, had given him more of a chance than she would've given to any other suitor, but still ended up hexing him when he just got unbearable. That had quickly escalated into a fight, and Ron had barely escaped before he truly felt the wrath of the Ice Queen.

Still, Ron was now going with Lavender, and Harry was left to ponder who he should take as his date.

He'd even considered taking Parvati, as a sort of apology for the rather horrible and neglectful way he'd treated her during the Yule Ball of his Fourth Year, but she was going with Seamus.

Since there really wasn't any other option, and he felt that Daphne was probably the least likely of all his potential options to actually consider the Yule Ball to be the beginning of a relationship, he decided to ask her to be his date.

Still, he had to plan it out, and talked extensively to Neville, who was overjoyed when Hermione agreed to go with the Ball with him. He had no wish of fucking up as badly as Ron did, especially when he wasn't sure if Daphne disliked him or not.

Taking a deep breath when he saw Daphne returning from the library alone, he stepped out of the alcove that he'd been waiting in for the past hour, trying to get Daphne alone. Earlier, Tracey had wished him luck, told him he had nothing to worry, kissed him goodbye, and headed off to the dungeons to complete her Potions work.

Daphne was rather shocked to see a figure suddenly step out of the alcove, and drew her wand quickly, ready to defend herself, a hex on her lips, when she caught sight of those beautiful emerald eyes that haunted her dreams at night. Thankfully she did not talk in her sleep, or Tracey would know all about the scandalous thoughts she had about her boyfriend.

"Daphne." Harry said nervously, seeing her wand out.

"Merlin, Harry, you scared me." Daphne said, thankful that it was rather dim in the corridor, and Harry probably couldn't see the rising blush in her face. She quickly lowered her wand.

Harry apologized sheepishly, before taking a deep breath and just plowing ahead.

"Daphne, will you go with me to the Yule Ball?"

Daphne sucked in a breath, shocked at his request. Of course, she knew that Tracey was leaving for the States, but she never even considered that he'd ask her. She thought that he'd probably go with someone from his own House, especially considering how she'd been doing her best to avoid him in the past few weeks. She had been resigned to going to the Ball alone. After all, she had no wish to go home for Christmas, not after the Marriage Contract, and nobody other than the infuriating Weasel had dared to ask her. Still, could she control herself at the Ball? Could she make sure that the relationship between herself and Harry didn't go too far? She didn't want to hurt Tracey.

After deliberating for some while, in which Harry had become convinced that she would refuse, she gave her answer.

"Harry I'll…"

**oOo**

** Hehe. I'm evil.**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 21**

** So I'm not THAT evil. I won't leave you hanging for very long.**

** Oh, and maybe some of you didn't get a notification for Chapter 19. If you didn't, make sure that you actually read that chapter because it was pretty important.**

** One last thing, about chapter lengths. You probably know that I generally update every 1-2 days. Longer chapters just means a longer wait. I don't really care either way, but if you want longer chapters, then I shall oblige. I'll keep this chapter at around 2-3k words, but tell me which you'd prefer.**

**oOo**

(_Previously_)

_"Daphne, will you go with me to the Yule Ball?"_

_ Daphne sucked in a breath, shocked at his request. Of course, she knew that Tracey was leaving for the States, but she never even considered that he'd ask her. She thought that he'd probably go with someone from his own House, especially considering how she'd been doing her best to avoid him in the past few weeks. She had been resigned to going to the Ball alone. After all, she had no wish to go home for Christmas, not after the Marriage Contract, and nobody other than the infuriating Weasel had dared to ask her. Still, could she control herself at the Ball? Could she make sure that the relationship between herself and Harry didn't go too far? She didn't want to hurt Tracey._

_ After deliberating for some while, in which Harry had become convinced that she would refuse, she gave her answer._

_ "Harry I'll…"_

"—go with you, but don't get any ideas." Daphne said, hardly believing that she was actually agreeing to go with Harry.

Harry's eyes brightened, and he said, "Great! Well, I'll meet you at the entrance to the dungeons by the Great Hall at around six? The Ball starts at six-thirty, so we'll have enough some time beforehand to… do anything really."

Daphne nodded, not trusting her own voice as she fought down the elation rising inside of her.

With a last smile, Harry bid her goodbye and entered a shortcut passageway that would lead to Gryffindor Tower.

With a shake of her head, Daphne continued down towards the dungeons. What had she gotten herself into?

**oOo**

Tracey was smirking at the prone form of her best friend, who was currently lying face down on her bed.

"Oh, c'mon Daph, he's not that bad. Besides, you like him. I know you do!"

At those words, Daphne suddenly shot up and turned to face Tracey.

"I do NOT like him. I mean, I mean, I like him as a friend, not as a boy. I mean—"

Tracey fell on her butt laughing. It was rare that the Ice Queen ever got this flustered. It was always nice, and quite funny, to see.

Daphne meanwhile, was not particularly thrilled at her best friend winding her up, and gave her the patented Ice Queen glare. Unfortunately for her, Tracey had known her for too long. Her glares and icy silences never worked for very long.

Tracey calmed down a little, and stopped giggling, becoming serious.

"Daph, he's probably the best person you could go with. Since I'm not going to be there, he doesn't have a date. And no matter what you might say, I know that you and him are pretty good friends. Just go with him and have a good time. If it really is that hard for you, consider this a favor for me since it's because of me that my boyfriend doesn't have a date, OK?"

"Fine, I'll go, and as you say, have a good time." Daphne relented, even though, secretly, she was pretty happy that she was going with Harry.

Tracey smiled.

"Now that we've gotten that out of the way, can you please come and take a look at my essay? Slughorn asked for a three foot essay on Felix Felicis, and I'm about three inches short."

Daphne moved towards Tracey's bed, where her work was spread out, and began to slowly go through Tracey's essay, making various corrections.

The two girls spent the rest of the evening completing their homework, although Tracey just couldn't resist poking fun at her friend every once in a while about Harry. She never suspected how close to the truth she got with her teasing.

**oOo**

Meanwhile, Harry had returned to the Gryffindor Common Room. He told his friends that he'd gotten a date for the Yule Ball, which immediately piqued their curiosity. However, knowing Ron's rather problematic jealousy streak, he decided not to tell exactly who he was going with until they were safely ensconced in their dorm and he'd cast _Muffliato _on the door to make sure that nobody came running when Ron started screaming.

Then, he proceeded to tell his friends about who he was going with, and waited for the inevitable explosion.

He was not disappointed.

Ron shot up when he said, "Daphne Greengrass." and cried, "WHAT?!"

His face was quickly turning the famous Weasley red. Harry and Neville looked at each other, and they both could tell that the other knew this would happen. The two boys simultaneously drew their wands. Harry disarmed his best friend, in case he decided to do something really stupid, and Neville bound him in ropes, which consequently made him fall back down on the bed. It was, after all, quite difficult to remain standing when one was bound and trussed up like a pig.

Ron glared at them, but the gag in his mouth effectively shut him up.

"Ron, Daphne rejected you. She didn't want to go with you. You know that Tracey's going to the States for the Christmas holidays, and since both Daphne and I don't have a date, we'll go with each other. It doesn't mean anything, Ron. I'm still committed to my relationship with Tracey, and Daphne obviously can't break the contract with me at a Yule Ball. She's not stupid; she doesn't want to suffer the repercussions of breaking the contract either."

Ron was slowly calming down, listening to the logic of his friend. It wasn't like he could do anything else. Perhaps in the future when he was angry, it would be best to shut him up and explain things to him, lest he make any more scenes.

"Now, Ron, can I unbind you and trust you not to yell or attack me?" Harry asked, carefully watching his friend for any indication that his answer would be untruthful.

Ron nodded his head, and Harry waved his wand, dispelling the bindings.

Rubbing his arms to get circulation going through his body again, Ron looked at Harry reproachfully.

"Did you have to tie them so tight, mate?"

Harry smirked. "Well, I couldn't have you hitting me, now could I? I had to make sure."

"Alright mate, have fun at the Ball. Good luck with the Ice Queen, and don't touch her in any inappropriate places, eh?" Ron said jokingly.

Harry didn't take the joke that well, though. Turning pale at the idea of dancing with the Ice Queen, he looked quite anxious.

Now, the tables were turned, and Neville and Ron were the ones laughing at Harry's discomfort.

"Well, I suppose you know her well. She won't hex you." Neville said, still doing his best to suppress his laughter.

Harry glared at his two friends.

"I may know her, but I'm pretty sure that she's still going to hex me if I touch her in any way."

"You need to touch her to dance, Harry" Neville responded.

"Shit." Harry murmured. He was still just as terrible at dancing as he was back in 1994. Perhaps he could get Hermione to teach him?

Ron, too, was no longer laughing, thinking about the prospect of dancing. Neville was smirking at the two of them. He had learned to dance himself in his own room. Although he had felt rather mortified at the time that he was, quite literally, dancing with air, it was totally worth it when he saw some of the morons at the last Yule Ball try to dance.

"Think Hermione would be willing to help us?" Harry asked Neville with a pleading look in his eyes. Ron nodded along with his friend.

"Oh, c'mon Harry. Why are you asking me? Go ask her!" Neville replied, smirking. He really did enjoy turning the tables on his friend.

"Prat." Harry said, before rising to return to the Common Room, dispelling the "_Muffliato_" on the door with a wave of his wand. Ron followed him out the door, leaving Neville laughing at his friends' plight.

**oOo**

The last few weeks of term flew by pretty quickly. Winter had arrived at Hogwarts, and snow blanketed the castle grounds. Inside the castle, students were all preparing to either leave for home, or the Ball. This time, students of all ages had been invited, instead of only Fourth Year and up.

Meanwhile, Harry and Ron had successfully persuaded Hermione to teach him how to dance. Although they were, by no means, outstanding dancers, they were at least proficient enough after three weeks of practice that they wouldn't embarrass themselves at the Ball. Still, Harry was worried. Daphne, growing up in a pureblood family, had probably been treated to all that pureblood etiquette stuff that they exhibited at any type of social event. Harry remembered how most of the purebloods in the school had danced markedly better at the Yule Ball in his Fourth Year compared to everybody else.

Most of the Seventh Years were quickly finishing all the homework that they had, and everybody was quite excited for the Ball.

The day of Tracey's departure had arrived, and Harry had come to say his goodbyes after all his friends had already said goodbye to the girl.

The rest of their friends left, giving them a little privacy.

"Have a good time with your family, Tracey. I hope you enjoy your time there. I'll miss you." Harry said, drawing the girl into his arms for a hug.

Tracey smiled at him after stepping back.

"Take care of yourself, Harry. I don't want you to go looking for trouble over the break. Stay safe, and have a good time with Daphne. She really needs to let her guard down and just act like a normal teenager sometime."

"I'll do my best." Harry promised his girlfriend.

Tracey smiled, and stepped forward for one last hug. Harry bent and captured her lips with his, entwining his fingers into her hair. He would really miss her over the break. They'd spent so much time together that it seemed almost foreign to be spending nearly three weeks apart.

After they broke the kiss, Tracey slipped out the door and headed towards the exit. Harry watched her go, absentmindedly touching his lips, where the ghost of their kiss still lingered.

He'd really miss her. While he was looking forward to the Ball, he was also wishing, perhaps for the first time since before he came to Hogwarts, that the Christmas holidays would pass quickly.

**oOo**

The first part of the Christmas holidays was a blur of homework, snowball fights, chess, and just lazing around the Common Room. Occasionally, Harry saw Daphne in the hallways. No matter how irrational the thought was, Harry always thought that she'd change her mind at the last minute and decide to not go with him, but she never did reject him.

So now, here he was, an hour before the Ball was due to start, drying himself off after a rather vigorous snowball fight with Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean, and some other boys from other Houses. After taking a quick shower, he cleaned up his appearance before dressing in his dress robes. The others were all struggling into their robes. Ron was quite thankful for the new set of dress robes Harry had bought him, as the old ones the twins had bought for him had become too small.

After each boy took care to make sure their appearance was impeccable, they all headed downstairs. There, Neville and Ron waited for their respective dates, while Harry headed off towards the entrance to the dungeons to greet his date.

Despite great pains and effort to keep it a secret, it seemed that practically the whole school knew Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, was going with the famed Ice Queen of Slytherin. It had been quite a hot topic in the Hogwarts rumour mill, at least according to Lavender, who was the self-styled Queen of Gossip.

In fact, Harry suspected that it was Lavender who'd spilled the beans to everyone about his date, but there really wasn't much he could do about it. He'd had to endure multitudes of boys coming up to him, congratulating and envying him while feeling sorry for him at the same time. It was getting really bloody annoying.

He waited for Daphne for perhaps five minutes when she emerged, looking absolutely stunning in a simple red dress that did wonders for her figure. Her face looked absolutely angelic, makeup perfectly applied. She looked like a goddess.

Harry was absolutely floored by her appearance, but thankfully pulled himself together before he did something really embarrassing, like drool in her presence or something equally mortifying.

"You look stunningly beautiful." Harry complimented Daphne as he approached her, offering his arm.

Daphne took it, while looking him up and down.

"You clean up pretty well yourself, Harry. I'm impressed."

Daphne had spent extra time on her appearance. Generally, in the past, she'd just thrown some dress that her mother would've sent her, and put on a dab of makeup before deeming herself ready. There was no point in trying to look perfect, as it would only attract more unwanted attention.

However, this time, because it was Harry, she had painstakingly made sure everything was perfect. Despite her own recriminations about how she shouldn't try to get into any committed relationship with Harry, and that this whole event was a one-time thing, she couldn't help but try to look her best.

They arrived at the Great Hall and met up with Neville and Hermione, who had opted to wait for them. Ron and Lavender had gone on ahead. Ron knew that the tensions between himself and his future betrothed hadn't really calmed down much, and it would not be a good idea to start a fight at such a festive event.

The Great Hall was completely decked out in Christmas themes, with Christmas trees, mistletoe, and fake snow decorations. It appeared that Professor McGonagall had once again managed to contract the Weird Sisters, as they were the band onstage preparing to begin the festivities.

At precisely six-thirty, the Weird Sisters announced that the Ball would officially begin, and the music soon started. Professor McGonagall and Hagrid began the night's dancing, soon joined by the rest of the students.

Neville and Hermione whirled away, as Harry took a deep breath and placed his a hand on Daphne's waist. Thankfully, she didn't smite him. In fact, he'd have been shocked at the rather scandalous thoughts running through Daphne's head.

As they began to dance, Harry mentally thanked Hermione for perhaps the umpteenth time for her dancing lessons, as they allowed Harry to at least be able to dance properly without stepping on Daphne's toes or causing her any discomfort.

Both Harry and Daphne lost themselves in the music, and danced for a good half-hour before Daphne proclaimed that her heels were killing her feet, and that they should probably eat some food.

They sat down at a table next to Neville and Hermione, who, like them, were taking a break from the dancing. As they ordered their food (the setup was identical to the setup at the Yule Ball of 1994), they talked about various inconsequential things.

Daphne was really enjoying herself. Harry, so far, had been a perfect gentleman, always putting her needs before his. She could fully understand why Tracey fell for him.

The night continued on with more dancing, and the various couples enjoyed themselves immensely. It was a wonderful release from all the school work, and the assassination, which had troubled the majority of the school population.

As the night wound down, Daphne began to feel tired, and she wanted to get away from the party for a few minutes. Harry agreed, and the two left the party and slowly walked around the school, and Harry showed Daphne some secret passageways around the school that would help her move around the school more quickly. In one of these passageways, Daphne couldn't hold back anymore.

She didn't know what it was about Harry Potter, but she really felt something for him. She cursed the world for dumping a contract on her just when she'd begun to have feelings for a boy. She put a hand on Harry's arm, stopping him from leaving the darkened passageway.

"Harry, I-I have something to tell you." Daphne began softly, timidly, afraid of what his reaction might be.

Harry's green eyes, which were bright and distinguishable even in the dim light, were staring into her own. There was something there, something more than just politeness and friendship. She could see it, and it made her heart race.

"Yes, Daphne?" Harry asked. She was drawing close. In fact, she was so close that she was practically pressed up against him. The one corner of his brain that was still thinking rationally was noting that this was the probably the closest that the Ice Queen had ever gotten to any boy.

"I've been trying to hold back these feelings that I've been having. I'm not sure what it is about you, Harry, but… I can see why Tracey likes you so much." She whispered, staring into Harry's eyes, her arms slowly slinking around his neck.

Harry was entranced. His hands went to Daphne's waist. They were practically nose to nose.

When their lips met, something akin to a groan was torn from Harry.

Harry's thoughts were running at a mile as the kiss grew more passionate. His hands, instinctively, slid around Daphne's waist and pulled her closer.

'I should pull away. I love Tracey. I'm hurting her. Don't do this to her.' A voice kept repeating in his mind.

Still, another voice, a stronger one, was also talking.

'This feels so good. This feels so right. She's the one.'

When the two finally broke for air, reality set in. Daphne was ashamed of herself, even though she felt complete in Harry's arms. She had never felt like this, but this was Harry. This was Tracey's boyfriend, for Merlin's sake.

She couldn't bear the guilt, and with tears in her eyes, slid away, whispering, "I'm sorry.", before disappearing, leaving Harry to lean against the wall, wondering if he had just imagined everything.

**oOo**

** So, all Harry/Daphne fans rejoice. **

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 22**

** It seems that everybody is rooting for Harry/Daphne. Now, I know just what to do. *Evil smirk***

**Enjoy Chapter 22**

**oOo**

Daphne Greengrass was lying on her bed, staring up at the roof to her dorm, thoughts whirling through her mind, as she tried her best to get her bearings after the kiss. The Yule Ball had ended about an hour ago, at midnight, and yet she was still unable to sleep.

She'd been replaying the kiss over and over in her mind. It was everything she'd dreamed of in a first kiss. Harry had been the perfect gentleman, and everything that she could've hoped for in a boyfriend, at least for tonight.

Yet, guilt permeated her every cell. She'd promised herself that she would do anything and everything in her power to make sure that Tracey's relationship with Harry would be filled with happiness, and that nobody would interfere. It was indeed quite ironic that she would be the one who would end up causing problems for the two of them.

She'd recognized her attraction to Harry a few weeks ago. She should've never agreed to go with him. It was too tempting. It was too risky, and sure enough, it had ended with something that she'd cherish for eternity, and yet regret for all of eternity as well.

She turned over in her bed once more, not able to fall asleep. She could still feel the ghost of Harry's lips on her own, and, despite knowing that it would hurt her best friend, she wanted to feel those very same sensations again. It was a constant war between her head and her heart.

She had no choice. She would have to talk to Harry and sort out the mess of feelings that she was feeling for him. She owed at least that much to both Harry and Tracey.

She would've been surprised to know that in another part of the school, Harry Potter was thinking along the same lines.

Harry was, like Daphne, replaying the kiss over and over in his mind. He wasn't even sure about his feelings now. They were so muddled that if people asked him at that very moment whether he'd choose Daphne or Tracey, he wouldn't be able to give them an honest answer.

He finally fell into a troubled slumber, sometime around three in the morning, his dreams still haunted by images of the girls.

The next day, it was quite awkward when they met near the entrance to the Great Hall, and Harry, screwing up his Gryffindor courage, asked Daphne to meet him in an empty classroom later that day. She agreed readily, knowing that they would have to define their relationship borders before somebody got seriously hurt.

Neville and Ron immediately pestered Harry with questions about what happened, as they had both saw them leave the Ball the night before.

Harry, too tired to put up with their pestering, just ate as fast as humanly possible, and then returned to the Gryffindor dorms for a nap before his meeting with Daphne. He answered a grand total of zero questions, leaving both Neville and Ron rather frustrated.

'Something had happened the night before,' they thought, 'but what exactly could it be?'

Neville voiced his prediction, "They probably shared a romantic moment, and now both feel guilty because of Tracey."

Ron looked fairly incensed.

"Does Daphne think that she can just escape the contract? I bet she's trying to take advantage of Harry to get out of the contract somehow!" he said, angrily.

Neville rolled his eyes at the wild accusation.

"Ron, you've read the contract yourself, it's ironclad and you know it. Honestly, if you care so much about Daphne, then why does it seem like every time you talk to her something goes wrong?"

Ron eyed a pretty sixth-year witch appreciatively as they passed her on the way to the Gryffindor Common Room, leaving Neville to shake his head in exasperation. And the guy wondered why his betrothed hated him.

"It's not my fault." Ron said absent-mindedly. "Anyways, what happened last night with Hermione? Why isn't she with us?"

"Oh…" Neville blushed. "She's just tired, that's all."

Ron turned to look at Neville with an incredulous look on his face.

"Tired on Christmas Day? I can understand Harry, since his relatives were pretty horrid towards him and he never truly understood the holiday, but Hermione? She was always incredibly excited about Christmas."

Neville turned away, trying to conceal his reddening face.

"We had a bit of a late night yesterday, that's all." He said.

Ron seemed reluctant to accept his explanation, but then Lavender appeared, and dragged him off. Neville breathed a sigh of relief. Then, his thoughts turned to what happened with Hermione the night before, and a goofy grin appeared on his face.

**oOo**

Harry found Daphne waiting for him outside the tapestry with trolls in tutus. She was studying the tapestry when he arrived, but turned when she heard his footsteps.

"Hey…" Harry said in greeting, wincing internally at how pathetic that sounded.

Evidently, Daphne couldn't offer up anything better, and they just stood there awkwardly for a few moments, before Harry took a deep breath, and said, "Come with me. I have something to show you."

Daphne, intrigued at what possible secrets about the castle Potter could've been keeping, followed Potter, only to stop in confusion when he turned around again. His eyes were shut, and he seemed to be whispering something under his breath. On the second time around, she was seriously beginning to doubt his sanity, and was about to voice her opinions, when he turned around again for the third time, and suddenly, a door appeared in a blank stretch of wall that most certainly hadn't been there before.

Daphne gasped, as Harry opened his eyes, and smiled that oh so endearing smile.

He pulled open the door, and gestured with his hand. "Ladies first."

Barely managing to hold back a snort at his antics, she entered, and her eyes widened, it looked like an exact replica of the Slytherin Common Room.

She turned on Harry, who was just coming through the door, and said bluntly, "Spill the beans, Harry. What is this place?"

Harry, who had just finished locking the room, turned and said, "It's called the Room of Requirement. A friend showed me the location back in Fifth Year, and I ran Dumbledore's Army in here that year. Just walk three times across the blank stretch of wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas and think about what you want, and it'll materialize."

Daphne, while impressed by how alike the Room of Requirement was to the actual Slytherin Common Room, was curious as to why Harry had picked this setting, and voiced her question.

Harry shrugged, running his hands through his hair nervously.

"I just thought that it would feel more comfortable for you if we…talked here."

Daphne nodded, and sank down onto a comfortable couch, sitting properly like she'd been taught her whole life.

Another awkward silence dragged on in the room as both teens tried to formulate any words to describe what had happened the night before.

Deciding it had gone enough, Daphne spoke up,

"Alright, this is pathetic. Harry, I don't know, but last night was…special for me." Daphne said, taking the huge first step.

Harry put his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

Daphne held her breath, waiting for him to speak. She needed to know… how did he feel about her? Did he hate her for interfering with his love life?

"Daphne, it was…something special for me. And yet, I'm confused. This is the first time that I've really been torn. It's like… I love Tracey, Daphne, I really do. But, I can't help feeling that there's something special that we share as well."

Daphne looked down, tears forming in her eyes.

"I shouldn't." she said in a thick voice. "I shouldn't get between you and Tracey. I can't do that to my best friend. Besides, there's still the contract hanging over my head. I can't be with you even if I wanted to."

Harry was frozen. He was really bad at dealing with crying girls, and this was just messing with his head even more.

"Daphne, don't think that way. Look, if you really want it, I can try to get the goblins to annul the marriage. There's always that possibility."

Daphne shook her head.

"So noble of you, Harry… I know I didn't make a mistake last night." She said with a bitter laugh, tears flowing down her face.

Harry moved forward, and sat down next to her, putting an arm around her. He was at a loss for words. Everything was just so hard. Nothing was ever simple for Harry bloody Potter.

When Daphne had calmed down somewhat, she said, "Harry, you need to tell Tracey about this. She deserves to know, at the very least. Especially after everything she's gone through. I'm worried about her, Harry."

Harry nodded. "I know. I'll talk to her as soon as she gets back. In the meantime, though, what do we do about…all of this?"

Daphne, although it broke her heart with every word she spoke, choked out "Let's…just…pretend it never happened."

Harry felt that doing so would be a huge mistake. He wrapped his arms tighter around Daphne, and kissed her on the temple.

"I'll always remember last night, Daphne."

Daphne smiled a watery smile. "I'll cherish that memory as well. Thank you Harry…for everything." She said quietly.

They sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, until it was time to say goodbye. With reluctance, Daphne disentangled herself from Harry.

They said their goodbyes, and Harry watched Daphne Greengrass walk off. Her head down, no longer the picture of the Ice Queen. He had discovered something human, something precious beneath those icy walls. Yet, he had no choice, but to let her go.

**oOo**

Samantha Zabini was getting ready to return to Britain. After all, she had to complete her contract before she could officially "retire" in comfort. She'd spent a very comfortable two weeks basking in the sun of the Mediterranean, but now it was time to return to business.

She was still faced with a monumental task. How exactly does one kill perhaps the most famous person of Magical Britain, surrounded as he is by the many layers of safeguards that the school provides?

Unfortunately for Samantha, while she did know that the location of the Gryffindor Common Room was located behind the portrait of the Fat Lady in Gryffindor Tower, she did not have even the faintest clue as to what the password the Gryffindors might use. She'd once heard from her son that a password had been as ridiculous as "_Mimbulus Mimbletonia_", but she doubted that the password would always be named after rare exotic plants. Even if it were, there were thousands out there, and Samantha really didn't fancy going through lists of plants to try and get through the Fat Lady.

That left assassinating the boy during daylight hours, quite a dangerous task. Honestly, the best option would be to wait for the school year to end, but there was always the possibility that she would never get close enough to kill the boy. No, it was better not to leave things up to chance.

She did have one little bit of information though, something mentioned in passing by her son that she had heard through her listening charm she'd planted on one of her letters. Harry Potter had apparently developed a relationship with Tracey Davis. Now _there_ was a possibility. Maybe…just maybe… she'd be able to lure him in using that girl as bait.

She'd heard that the girl was visiting the United States. Perfect. She was outside the school. Now, all she needed was a location.

She smirked. It was time to call in an old favor from an old friend at the Ministry.

The old friend was Madam Marissa Edgecombe, who worked for the Department of International Travel at the Ministry. She had been promoted from working as a Floo Network Regulator after Samantha had…convinced Cornelius Fudge that it was the right thing to do.

It only took a few moments talking to her old friend to ask after Tracey Davis, and only a few moments after that to receive the information that the girl had traveled to New York City to visit her relatives living there.

Samantha smirked. This was just too easy.

**oOo**

** Yeah… if Harry/Daphne happens, it's going to be after quite a few bumps and problems.**

** Also, I'll be honest, if I write anymore angsty scenes, I'm going to have to change the themes of the story…**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 23**

** Well, the daily update streak got broken. What do you know, summer school homework really hurts.**

**Enjoy Chapter 23.**

**oOo**

Tracey Davis was having a great time in the United States. Her uncle, Robert, had shown her around New York City, and Tracey had been amazed at the incredible size of the population in the city. She'd also been amazed at the variety of shops that New York held, and without hesitation she'd embarked on a two-day shopping spree that left her with quite a few new outfits, and quite a lot less Galleons. It didn't matter though, her parents had left her a decent chunk of money, and prices were also lower in the States than it was back home in London.

She'd celebrated a wonderful Christmas with her remaining family, and she amused her five and eight-year-old cousins with magic while her Aunt and Uncle were busy. Her aunt and uncle were like surrogate parents to her. In fact, if it weren't for Harry, Daphne, and perhaps her new acquaintances from Gryffindor, she'd move here permanently after graduation. She was still seriously considering it, and was curious if Harry would be willing to move to the States. She doubted it, but it was still worth asking.

Harry. Every time she thought about him, it brought a smile to her lips. In merely two months, he'd changed her whole world. She'd asked him to Slughorn's party partly out of desperation, and partly because she held a genuine interest in him, but he had gone above and beyond her expectations. He was pretty much the perfect boyfriend, being there for her without asking too many annoying questions. He also knew when to give her some space.

She thanked whatever deity was out there that Slughorn had arranged his party. It was perhaps the best thing that had happened to her in her young life.

Today, she'd planned on visiting the Muggles' Metropolitan Museum of Art. She'd heard of its prestige even in Britain. Her aunt and uncle had originally planned to spend the day with her, but they had some last minute business with the American Ministry that they had to take care. So, here Tracey was, dressed in some rather comfortable Muggle clothes, walking up the steps towards the entrance to the museum.

She toured the museum for the day, checking out all the artwork and historical artifacts that the museum had to offer. Right before she was about to leave, she heard a weird groaning noise coming from one of the bathrooms. It sounded like a groan of pain, and Tracey, curious as to what exactly was happening, began to head in the direction of the bathroom.

Right before she entered, she could've sworn that she saw a hooded mysterious man in the corner of her eye. Then, entering the bathroom, she turned towards the source of the sound, and saw a jet of red light flying towards her. She hit the ground immediately, and knew no more.

**oOo**

The rest of Christmas passed without incident, although it was still awkward whenever Daphne and Harry were near each other. At least there was a welcome distraction for both of them in the form of Ron Weasley.

Ron Weasley was still fairly angry that Geoffrey Hooper had "stolen" his spot on the Quidditch Team. This was reinforced by Gryffindor narrowly scraping a victory against Slytherin. The final score, 200-190, told of just how awful a performance Geoffrey had put up. Of course, the blame could not be solely laid at his feet, as Gryffindor's Chasers didn't have the proper synergy to muster more than five goals. Harry, feeling the pressure immediately after Slytherin went up 120-40, had frantically searched the pitch for the winged Golden Snitch, and barely, just _barely_, managed to catch the damned ball before Slytherin's Chasers could score again. Geoffrey did manage a pretty impressive flying lunge that blocked the Quaffle from going through the hoops while Harry was busy in his Snitch race. So, technically, Geoffrey saved the game, even though he was also the reason why they were behind that much in the first place.

Still, when Harry sat down and took a closer look at the game, he realized that it wasn't Geoffrey's fault, or even the Chaser's fault. It was the fact that for the first time in Harry's years at Hogwarts, Slytherin had fielded their _best_ team instead of a team of people who could bully others the most. Most of the brawn on their team had been replaced by talented individuals. Harry now fully understood why the team captained by Charlie Weasley in 1990, back when Slytherin had fielded their best team, had been flattened by the Slytherin Team in the final. The Slytherins were _good_. It was only because of little shits like Malfoy that caused that team to fall from greatness.

Harry could only hope that Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw HAD fielded their best teams in the past. If they didn't... his dreams of leading Gryffindor to another Quidditch Cup title might be just that, a dream.

Ron, unfortunately, didn't see the Keeper issue that way. He saw Geoffrey's performance as a big step backwards from his own previous performance against their "hated rivals". He believed that, since when he was Keeper, they had flattened Slytherin 250-0, the narrow victory was all Geoffrey's fault, and that he should be reinstated as Keeper.

Thankfully, Professor McGonagall intervened and clearly stated that she supported Harry's decision, and that Ron should kindly keep his opinions to himself if he didn't want to spend time in detention. That shut him up.

Daphne also provided another distraction for the redhead.

After trying, and failing, to get over Harry, she decided to try and distract herself by becoming somewhat acquainted with Weasley, so that she wouldn't be marrying an idiot she had no knowledge of.

'It was pretty funny to watch the two interact,' Harry mused, and mentioned that fact to Neville. Neville totally agreed with him.

After all, Ron was trying to simultaneously impress and push away Daphne at the same time. He wanted to impress her because of her beauty, and because he wanted to become closer to his betrothed, but he was pushing her away because she was a Slytherin, and Slytherins, in Ron Weasley's mind, were automatically enemies.

Daphne was quite frustrated, but every time she looked at Harry, she'd be able to quell that anger with various conflicting feelings of love, guilt, and sadness.

Still, the holidays were almost over. Harry was both looking forward to, and dreading Tracey's return the next day. He'd broken his promise to her, but he still loved her. That much he was sure of.

As he climbed into bed, he was mentally going over exactly what he would say to his girlfriend. Still, he was not looking forward to hurting the girl he cared about deeply.

**oOo**

Harry found himself back in a familiar place in his dreams.

'Shit', he thought, taking in the train station as his surroundings.

He looked around, expecting Fate or Death, or _someone_ who would be there to greet him. There was nobody around, so he began walking around the platform, looking for someone, anyone, who could explain why he was there.

He also hoped that he didn't "die" again in the real world. That had been quite a shock and rather unpleasant the last time it had happened, waking up to a bunch of mourning friends.

Still, as he was walking towards the rather misty side of the stadium, he heard a voice, a voice that made his heart drop into his stomach and his blood turn to ice.

"Hello, Harry." A very familiar female voice spoke.

Harry slowly turned around, hoping against hope that it wasn't who he thought it was. Unfortunately, as always, hope and reality were quite different.

Tracey Davis stood there, smiling at him sadly.

"Tracey…?" Harry said quietly, not believing it.

Tracey didn't say anything, just walked a few steps closer to him.

"What are you doing here, Tracey? How did you…die?" Harry asked, feeling his lungs constrict, and pressure forming behind his eyes. He was pinching himself in the arm. Anything to wake up from this and find out that it wasn't real.

"Harry, I was killed yesterday. Yesterday, when I was visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, I went into a bathroom, and was murdered by the assassin lying in wait there."

"Who?" Harry said quietly, his voice laden with grief and anger. He would find who was behind this.

Tracey bowed her head. "I don't know who it was. The assassin wore a cloak with a hood that concealed the person's face. I couldn't tell who it was, but based on the voice, I would guess that it was a female."

"Tracey…I'm so sorry. I… I have something to tell you."

Tracey looked up, her small, sad smile reappearing on her lips.

"It's okay, Harry. I forgive you for the Yule Ball incident. Just, don't get together with Daphne, OK?"

Harry was too shocked by Tracey's death that he didn't even wonder how Tracey knew about his kiss with Daphne.

He fell to his knees in front of her, tears falling freely now.

"I'm so sorry, Trace. I betrayed you. I love you, Tracey. I love you, and only you."

Tracey gently placed a hand underneath his chin, and raised his face to look at her.

"Harry, I want you to go to States. I want you to meet my Aunt and Uncle. They're amazing people, and I'm sure they'll love you. I feel terrible that I left them after spending a wonderful Christmas with them. Will you go see them?" Tracey said with unusual intensity.

Still, Harry was not about to deny her last request.

"Of course I will, Tracey. I'll go see them as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Harry. I'm so sorry that our relationship ended the way it did. Just know that I'll be waiting for you when you finally decide to…move on."

Harry couldn't do much more than nod. He couldn't believe it. While the threat by Death was certainly worrisome, Fate was probably the biggest bitch he'd ever known. She'd taken everybody he loved. Tracey had now said goodbye, and turned away, walking into the mist. If he'd been paying closer attention, he'd probably notice that Tracey walked funnily. But he was too engrossed in his thoughts and misery. As the station slowly whirled out of focus and turned black, he woke up in his bed, his tears still running down his face.

He'd just lost the one girl that he loved. And he'd been advised by her not to fall in love with the other girl he loved. Life really did make Harry Potter miserable.

**oOo**

The next morning, Harry confided in all his friends about Tracey's death. They were simultaneously skeptical of her death and supportive of him when he insisted that he'd seen her in the "Death Plane", as Harry was now calling that weird in-between place that he had now visited three times, each with a different person to greet him. He was hesitant to approach Daphne about Tracey, knowing her feelings about her best friend, but he felt that she deserved to know.

Strangely, it was Daphne who was the most skeptical of all his friends, as she said, "The Tracey you described doesn't seem to be the real Tracey. Are you sure it was her?"

Still, Daphne wanted to go with her. If Tracey was really dead… she didn't even want to think about that possibility.

Harry and Daphne thus approached Professor McGonagall, and asked her permission to travel across the world to find Tracey. Professor McGonagall had slightly more faith in Harry's dreams, considering that he had once correctly predicted Arthur Weasley's injury at the Ministry due to snake attack, so she told Harry that she would do her best to make arrangements for them. She told them to come back in the afternoon. Harry and Daphne thanked her, and left the office.

All the way to the staircase where they had to part, Harry and Daphne were silent. The silence was awkward, and absolutely unbearable for both of them, but neither wanted to say anything.

Finally, when they reached the staircase that would lead to the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry spoke up, "Daphne…"

Daphne, who had been lost in her thoughts, staring ahead with her Ice Queen mask on, gave a start, and looked at Harry.

"Yes, Harry?"

"If Tracey is really gone… I can't be with you. You know that, right?"

Daphne forced down the tears that threatened to spill over every time she thought about her relationship with Harry. '

Stay calm, don't let him know.' She repeated over and over in her head. She didn't want Harry's pity. He would go against Tracey's last wishes to be with her if he felt that it would make her happier. It was why she loved him. It was also why she had to pretend to be nonchalant, to pretend that she didn't care. It killed her inside, but it had to be done.

"Yeah. Besides, I'll be marrying Weasley." Daphne said shakily.

Harry ran a hand through his hair, keeping it nice and messy, as usual.

"I can figure a way out if you really want it, Daphne."

Daphne was sorely tempted to take his offer.

"I-I-" Daphne really couldn't bring herself to accept or decline his offer, so she floundered here.

Harry smiled the first true smile he'd smiled since the Yule Ball.

"It's fine, Daphne. I understand. See you later." He said, before he turned around and strode up the staircase.

Daphne stood at the foot of the staircase, still deliberating over what Harry had said. Finally, when she heard footsteps headed in her direction, she composed herself quickly and, Ice Queen mask in place, headed for her own Common Room.

She dearly hoped that this trip to the States was nothing but a wild goose chase. She didn't want to lose her best friend, and she didn't want to be tempted by the possibility of a relationship with Harry any more.

**oOo**

** Definitely not my best or fastest work. I dearly hope that nobody makes the wrong assumptions about this chapter. I hope I dropped enough hints…**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 24**

**Enjoy Chapter 24.**

**EDIT: (7-26-2014 2:47 P.M. EST Due to a plot hole being pointed out to me by a reviewer (Just Another Aceves), I edited the chapter. Thanks, Just Another Aceves!**

**oOo**

Tracey opened her eyes. She ached all over, as if somebody had tossed her around in a metal container. She was pretty sure that she was bruised and battered all over. Taking in her surroundings, she noticed that she was in some sort of cell somewhere. She was chained to the floor, and the iron door looked pretty sturdily locked with both magical and Muggle ways. She tried to remember how she got there, but she couldn't. It was as if her memory had been modified. In fact, Tracey couldn't remember a thing since walking into the bathroom at the Metropolitan. She was fairly sure that she'd had her memory modified, but she couldn't be sure.

Light filtered through a barred window high up in the cell. Looking down, she noticed that she was wearing the same clothes that she'd worn at the Metropolitan. It must have been recently then. Her clothes looked almost the same as they had been before she'd walked into that bathroom, other than a few scratches and rips here and there.

She cursed herself for her curiosity. If she had just walked past that bathroom, and ignored the weird noises, she would be enjoying herself with her family, and probably also getting ready to return to Harry.

Harry. The name invoked so many emotions inside her. She missed him. He'd be worried sick about her, that was for sure. She wished he was here. He'd be able to help her get through whatever her captors wanted to put her through.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps outside. With effort, she managed to sit up, and compose herself. She tried her best to emulate Daphne's expression at school, as she found that unflappable coolness and disinterest was the best weapon when you were a hostage.

The door opened, and Tracey got her first look at her captor. She couldn't see the person's face because of a hood covering her face, but Tracey could tell that the person, whoever it was, was pretty tall.

The person was nearly six feet by her estimations, and as she towered over her, Tracey couldn't help, but feel slightly intimidated.

Deciding to take the first move, Tracey dared to ask a question.

"Who are you? And why am I here?"

Although Tracey couldn't physically see her mysterious captor smile, the voice by which the person replied with was filled with mirth. Unfortunately, it was also quite muffled, so she couldn't even tell what gender her captor was.

"My identity is unimportant, Tracey Davis. All you need to know is that things will go much better for you if you shut up and don't speak until you're told. Do as I say, and your life will be made easier. Disobey me and…"

Her captor twirled a wand, and Tracey felt burning pain spread from her arm. Although there was no visible physical injury, Tracey felt as if someone was slowly cutting into her arm with a knife. She gritted her teeth and tried not to cry out. In the end, she let out a strangled groan of pain as the pain spread across her body. Her captor finally released the spell, and Tracey was panting with the effort.

"Now that was just a demonstration. If you don't want to suffer the Cruciatus, I suggest you do as I say."

Tracey spat on the feet of her captor.

"Harry Potter will come, you know that, huh? The Boy-Who-Lived, the one who defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort, he'll come for me, and then you'll pay." She said vindictively, internally wincing at how much she sounded like Malfoy. Still, she needed to look tough and have good connections facing her captor. In the Pureblood world, power, intimidation, money, and connections were what people feared and respected, and Tracey was almost certain her captor was a Pureblood. She just didn't expect there to be budding Dark Lords in the United States, as her uncle had boasted that the States were light years ahead of Europe in terms of social equality and Muggle-born treatment.

Her captor didn't seem to be fazed in the slightest. Instead, her captor merely began chuckling quietly, which turned into outright laughter.

"Why, that's exactly what I'm waiting for, my dear. Don't tell me your pretty boyfriend will disappoint."

Tracey was shocked. This person wanted Harry to come. He or she also knew that the two of them were dating. That was bad. That meant that her captor might be from England, or at the very least had contacts in England. Now she understood why she was taken. It wasn't for money or human bondage as she had originally feared.

She was the bait for the trap.

As she sank down on the floor, her mind still digesting her recent revelations, she was hit by another Stunning Spell. The world turned black, and she slumped to the floor.

Samantha Zabini smiled predatorily, slowly removing her hood, shaking her long, brown hair loose. Everything was going according to plan.

**oOo**

Harry and Daphne were summoned to Professor McGonagall's office after lunch. They arrived after another long, awkward, and above all, silent, walk.

Harry gave the password to the gargoyle guarding the Headmistress's Office ("_Dumbledore!_"), and the two friends made their way up the stairs. Daphne knocked on the door, and Professor McGonagall's voice bade them to enter from within.

Once they were seated in comfortable armchairs in front of her desk, Professor McGonagall informed them that she had secured Ministry approval for their journey to the States. She confided that it wasn't too difficult. All she had to do was throw around Harry's name, and the Ministry would fall over themselves to try and help her. Even Kingsley went out of his way to help her. They were to report to the gates of the castle the next day at five P.M. sharp in order to take their International Portkey to the States. This would allow them to arrive around noon in the States. They were dismissed shortly afterwards, and the two made their way back towards their respective Common Rooms, lost in thought.

Harry had already packed a knapsack that Ron had loaned him, and he was ready to leave. It was the last couple of days before the holidays would end, and Harry was glad that he'd be able to get out of the castle before the majority of the students returned the next day. After all, he was already famous enough, and he really didn't want to answer any questions that people were bound to ask.

He'd completed all his homework and he really didn't have much to do. Most of the students had left the school after the Yule Ball to enjoy a few days with their families before returning back to school. The school was nearly empty, and Harry really had no idea what to do.

He might as well do some research on Tracey's possible location, so he set out for the library. There, he found Daphne sitting at a table with books strewn about on a table, with her head in her hands.

Harry made his over, and took a seat next to her.

Daphne, about to hex the individual who'd dared to bother her, caught sight of Harry, and the jinx died on her lips.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" Daphne asked curiously, despite the awkwardness between them.

Harry leaned back in the chair, trying to get comfortable. Recently, Madam Pince had decided to implement hard, straight-backed chairs as the standard for chairs in the library. Nobody knew the reason, although people speculated that Madam Pince was trying to dissuade people from studying in the library.

"I didn't have anything to do. I came here to see if I could maybe figure out where Tracey might be."

Daphne sighed. She'd thought a lot about what Harry had told her, and it just didn't seem likely that Tracey had gotten killed. The Tracey in Harry's dream sure didn't seem like the Tracey she knrw. Still, it was distressing, as Tracey hadn't sent her any letters for nearly a week now. Daphne understood that international post had to go through some complicated process at the Ministry, but letters still arrived within a day or two. While Daphne could understand that Tracey was probably having a good time with her family, she would still have sent letters.

"Harry, it's impossible to plan anything right now. We don't know where Tracey went, and we won't know until we talk to her relatives. Just relax for now. Getting yourself worked up is not going to help her, got that? Besides, since when did you begin to value plans? I thought you and Weasley used to always charge straight ahead and Hermione would generally hold you two back?"

Harry winced. That was a pretty harsh, albeit true, description of his attitude. Still, he knew that plans were definitely useful, even if they didn't work. Besides, he wasn't the master of improvisation for nothing.

"So what are you working on?" Harry asked.

"Charms homework." Daphne said, returning to her essay on the Principles of Advanced Glamour Charms.

Harry was surprised that Daphne still hadn't completed her homework yet. She was in the top five of their year, and she even beat Hermione in Potions for most of her years at Hogwarts.

An awkward silence descended over the two of them.

Harry, frustrated with all the silences and awkwardness that always permeated the air whenever they were alone together, decided to speak up.

"Daphne, this won't work." He said in a frustrated tone, running his hands through his hair.

Daphne looked up, quill poised in midair.

"What do you mean? What are you talking about?" Daphne said, setting down her quill, and pushing her essay aside, giving Harry her full attention.

"I don't want our relationship to be poisoned by what happened that night." Harry said.

Daphne looked down.

"I don't know what you want me to do, Harry. I- I…" Daphne stopped here. Did she really want to tell him about her true feelings? Could she trust him?

"-I love you, but I can't be with you." She said shakily, swallowing hard, trying to force back the tears that always welled up whenever she thought about what she could have had with Harry.

Harry was at a loss for words. Sure, he'd guessed that Daphne had some measure of feelings for him, but he hadn't thought that she…loved him. Even Tracey hadn't uttered those three words. The three words that people both dreaded, and yet yearned for.

Harry gently took Daphne's hand, and pulled her up. This was turning into a private conversation, and he really didn't want people to overhear. Harry led her to a secluded corner of the library, and erected privacy wards.

"Harry. I've decided. Go to the goblins or the Ministry. Do whatever you can to annul my marriage, and I'll be in your debt forever." Daphne murmured. She was sick and tired of trying to be selfless. While she wouldn't hurt Tracey, she certainly was not going to be tied down to Ron if she could.

Harry looked at her.

"Daphne, even without the contract, I don't know if I can bring myself to hurt Tracey. I don't even…" Harry trailed off. He was so confused by his thoughts and feelings that it was overwhelming.

Daphne nodded.

"I don't expect you to break up with Tracey, Harry. I just don't want to marry Weasley. I've tried to get to know him this year, but I just don't think that we'll ever even be cordial with each other. If we get married, it'll be absolutely awful. Please…please just do this for me. If you have any feelings for me, do this for me, and I'll owe you forever." Daphne whispered, tears shining in her cerulean eyes.

Harry was cursing his inability to understand girls.

"Daphne, I do have feelings for you. I'll always consider you a friend, and I always help my friends." He said, putting an arm around Daphne awkwardly, still not totally used to touching the once cold and aloof girl.

Daphne practically melted into his embrace. She couldn't help herself. She couldn't fight her heart any longer, and she was unable to stop herself from pressing closer to him.

She slowly pushed Harry back against the wall, drawing closer.

Harry was powerless to resist her, and Daphne drew closer, her arms wrapping around Harry.

But, this time, as Daphne was staring into his eyes with her own hypnotic blue ones, Harry's internal voice finally made itself heard.

'Why are you going after Tracey if you're just going to dump her for Daphne?' it screamed.

Harry, racked with guilt about his actions already, couldn't bear cheating on Tracey again, especially with her best friend.

Despite knowing how much this would hurt her, Harry couldn't help but gently push Daphne away and disentangle himself from her embrace.

Daphne, coming to her senses once more, cursed herself for her actions. She'd had a chance, a miniscule chance, to clear the air between them, and she'd mucked it up.

His rejection pained her. It hurt her more than anything else had ever had. So, with a bleeding heart, Daphne ran away once more, leaving Harry to stare at the place where she had been, wondering if he'd made a giant mistake.

His brain was congratulating him for his determination, but his heart was condemning him for rejecting the girl that had, somehow, wormed her way into his heart.

**oOo**

The next afternoon, Daphne and Harry, once again reverting to silence, walked together towards the Entrance Hall.

Both of them looked terrible. Daphne's eyes, despite her attempts to wear makeup and put glamour charms on herself, were still red and bloodshot from crying, and Harry had bags under his eyes, having barely slept the night before.

When they arrived at the Entrance Hall, they were greeted by Ministry officials at the Entrance Hall, and Harry barely, just _barely_, managed to keep his temper under control as he was glad-handed around by the officials, while Daphne stood off to the side rather awkwardly.

When the greetings, thanks, and well-wishes had finally all been delivered, Harry and Daphne both grasped the tarnished goblet that was their Portkey to the United States. They would be landing in Washington D.C., where the main office of the national Ministry of Magic for the States was located. When the appointed time of departure arrived, eight-thirty, both Harry and Daphne watched the goblet glow blue, and they felt the jerk that signaled the Portkey going off.

Daphne landed gracefully on her feet, having been trained her whole life in various methods of magical travel. Harry landed unsteadily, and would've sprawled onto the ground like a complete idiot, if it weren't for Daphne grabbing his arm.

Retrospectively, it was really important that she did. After all, no hero of Britain wants to look like a complete idiot in front of the officials of the United States Ministry of Magic.

As Harry and Daphne greeted the officials, Harry was pleasantly surprised that the Americans seemed to be much more genuine in their friendliness, and did not worship him as some sort of hero.

When they left the Ministry, they immediately went to the address that Tracey had given to Daphne before her departure.

Knocking on the door, they were greeted by Tracey's aunt and uncle, who were quite curious as to why a couple of strangers were at their door.

Both Harry and Daphne, who'd been under glamour charms in order to disguise their appearance, removed them so that Tracey's relatives could recognize them. Daphne had once met Tracey's aunt and uncle before they'd fled to the States to escape the budding war with Voldemort, and Harry's lightning bolt scar told the story for him.

They were quickly invited inside, where they professed that they were quite worried about Tracey.

"She just left for New York a couple days ago and never came back. She wanted to visit that famous Muggle museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We thought that maybe she'd gotten delayed, or that she decided to stay a couple days to tour the city, but she should've been back today. She said that she needed to go back to school today, so we waited for her all last night. She never showed up. We were just about to alert the authorities."

Harry looked at Daphne awkwardly. He didn't fancy explaining to Tracey's aunt and uncle that he dreamed she was dead.

"We came to look for her. You said she went to the Metropolitan Museum in New York?" Daphne asked, pretending not to notice Harry's meaningful glance.

"Yes." Robert Davis replied. "I assume you want to go and look for her?"

"Yes." Harry said. "Also, I want to request that you hold off on calling the authorities for a little while. I want to go and look for her privately without police interference. I don't know how the Auror force works here in the States, but I'd rather not have to deal with them."

Robert protested that the Auror force of the States was vastly superior to their British counterparts, but both Harry and Daphne were skeptical. Harry and Daphne finally managed to convince Tracey's relatives not to call the authorities, despite their protests. This decision would cost them dearly.

Harry, itching to get on the road to rescue his missing girlfriend, refused the offer to rest at the Davis residence for a day before continuing on, and Daphne shared his urgency. They bade Tracey's relatives goodbye, and headed back to the United States' Ministry. There, they arranged for transportation to New York.

It was time to discover exactly what had happened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

**oOo**

** I'm going to go hide now, before some Harry/Daphne fan stabs me or something…**

** And we finally arrived in the United States! Finally, I get to write about a place that I'm actually familiar with. Sorry to all the Brits out there who are probably denouncing my terribly inaccurate description of daily life in the UK.**

**Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 25**

** This update is a day late because I received the new Brotherband book yesterday. I had to finish that before I did anything else.**

**Enjoy Chapter 25**

**oOo**

Daphne and Harry left the minor branch of the Ministry in New York. They were plagued by a serious problem though. They were both well aware that although Tracey had intended to go to Metropolitan, nobody knew if she made it there or not. Daphne had asked Harry if museums in the Muggle world generally kept records of who came and went, to which Harry replied that they didn't. After all, on an average day, the Metropolitan Museum would be visited by thousands of people. There was no way to keep track of everybody.

Thankfully, there were magical ways of tracking someone, or at least their wand. When Tracey arrived in the United States, since she was a foreigner, the United States Ministry placed a small Tracking Charm on her person in order to make sure that she left the country when she was supposed to. It solved the problem of illegal immigration, which even wizards were prone to do.

Still, there were disadvantages to the tracking charm. The charm didn't tell the trackers anything other than location. Harry and Daphne had no idea what situation Tracey was in. If she was dead, the charm wouldn't know that. They would only be able to find the burial site. The tracking charm would only be destroyed if the body was completely disintegrated.

Currently, the charm was directing them towards a poorer part of New York, by the looks of it. The houses were looking older and older, and the people began looking more and more shady. Harry saw quite a few disturbing things, and Daphne huddled slightly closer to him instinctively. Finally, they reached a dilapidated house with overgrown shrubbery outside, and boarded up windows. It looked like the epitome of a haunted house, and there was a chill emanating from the house.

Harry and Daphne looked at each other, before checking their surroundings. After making sure that they weren't being watched, they both drew their wands simultaneously, before cautiously approaching the property.

It seemed that the property had no protection wards, as they were able to reach the door without a hitch, which was surprising. Evidently, it wasn't a permanent safe house.

They approached carefully, and Harry waved his wand, banishing the door open.

Both Daphne and Harry were ready, prepared for what could possibly be behind the door.

There was nothing there except darkness.

The boarded up windows allowed no light inside the house, so Harry murmured "_Lumos_."

Daphne went first, warily, while Harry shined the light from his wand over her shoulder to illuminate the way. It appeared that the hallway had several doors breaching off.

Daphne, wanting to determine just who was waiting in the house, waved her wand, and whispered, "_Homenum Revelio_".

Below them, two humanoid figures were immediately outlined clearly. There were two people below them. Daphne knew that one of them had to Tracey, especially considering how one of the two people looked to be chained to the floor if the figure's outline was anything to go by.

Carefully, Harry swung his wand from side to side, as they walked down the hallway slowly, looking for the entrance to stairs that would lead to…whatever was below them. They found steps leading downwards, and both Harry and Daphne knew that this was it. Either they would find Tracey captive, or they would find Tracey dead.

Harry didn't want to even consider the latter option, despite his dream. He had a lot of explaining to do, and he really was not looking forward to his choice between Daphne and Tracey.

He wasn't sure if he could even annul Daphne's contract, but he'd throw his name and weight around, and hopefully get his way. He'd scheduled that appointment with Gringotts before he'd left. He only hoped that it had gotten to the goblins…

Still, he needed to focus on the present. Daphne had reached the bottom of the stairs. The two humanoid figures were right around the corner, and Harry had already dimmed his light a great deal.

Making sure that he kept his wand at the ready, he stepped forward to draw alongside Daphne, who was pressed against the wall.

She turned to face him, and nodded once to signal she was ready.

Almost on impulse, Harry swooped down and captured her lips for a very brief kiss.

"For good luck." He whispered, before turning.

Daphne, head still spinning that Harry had actually _initiated _a kiss with her, took a moment to compose herself, before she squeezed Harry's hand.

Together, they quickly made their way around the corner, and blasted through the door that, evidently, led the way to a prison of some sort, especially given that the door was about five inches thick, and quite sturdy.

Looking back on it, Harry realized that it was quite strange that they were able to blast open such a sturdy door, magic or not, but at the time, he was way too preoccupied.

Tracey was tied up, struggling against her chains on the floor. She was gagged as well, but the look in her eyes was clear as soon as she saw Harry and Daphne burst through the door.

It was not the look of relief of a prisoner realizing that she was about to be rescued. It screamed of a trap, and Harry was immediately wary, turning to face the captor.

The captor, who'd up until this point remained quite calm, had her wand prepared and ready. Then, the captor slowly pulled her hood back.

Daphne nearly screamed in shock as she recognized the face of Samantha Zabini.

"You!" she cried.

Samantha Zabini smiled. The two impulsive teenagers had played straight into her hands. They hadn't noticed that Death was at their shoulder, quite literally. Although, Death seemed perfectly content to let the situation play out until his intervention was needed.

In fact, she'd been quite surprised and rattled when the middle-aged man who'd been paying her had finally revealed herself as Death. She'd never believed in the old tales of the Three Brothers by Beedle the Bard, but with the undeniable proof that Death provided, she had no more doubts.

Now, she could indulge in the enjoyment of toying with her captives. After all, it was the _famous _Harry Potter that Lord Voldemort himself had failed to capture.

"Yes, indeed, it is me." She said with amusement, shaking her head to get rid of the hood.

Harry was slightly confused, but he didn't take his eyes off the mysterious woman who had captured his girlfriend.

"Who are you?"

Samantha smiled at him.

"Samantha Zabini, at your service. " She said with a little bow.

Daphne snarled, "Was it you? Did you kill your own son?"

Samantha saw no harm in telling them, so she responded.

"Why yes. He betrayed my secrets to you. He was useless to me, and a thorn in my side, preventing my completion of my final contract."

Daphne's normally cool exterior, which was already crumbling, completely shattered, and she howled, "How could you do that to your own son? You evil monster."

Harry raised his wand. Screaming what not get him anymore.

"_Stup-_"

Before he could get a single spell off, his wand flew out of his hand, as well as Daphne's. They hadn't even seen Samantha move, nor did she so much as twitch her wand, indicating that she had not cast a spell.

What had hit them?

The answer appeared next to them in the form of a middle-aged man. The very same person who had once attempted to kill Harry in his sleep, and had haunted his dreams ever since.

"Oh my fucking god. My luck can NOT be that bad." Harry cursed, as he saw the man.

**oOo**

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, evening had just set in, and students were asking all around about where Harry Potter could possibly be. The fact that the Slytherin Ice Queen had apparently followed him on another one of his hare-brained adventures just further spurred rumors across the school.

Many thought that Potter was taking revenge on Daphne because she was a Slytherin. Others who knew that they had become friends, believed that Harry had proposed to Daphne over the Break and they were on a runaway honeymoon or something like that. It seemed that the stories just got wilder and wilder.

Only Ron, Neville, and Hermione knew that Daphne and Harry had gone to rescue Tracey.

Ron was not particularly pleased that his betrothed was going with Harry on what could very well be an incredibly dangerous mission. He and the rest of his friends were even more disgruntled that they hadn't been chosen to go with the two, but they understood Harry's reasons. Tracey wasn't as close to the rest of them, and Harry didn't want to bring any more friends into danger than was absolutely necessary. Daphne was only going because she was Tracey's best friend, and she absolutely insisted that she would be going. Harry had no choice, especially when Daphne had pointed a wand threateningly at him.

Now, Ron, Neville, and Hermione were left to stew and worry about their missing friends.

They really didn't know whether or not the mission was a success, but they were quite impatient for news.

They were all rather subdued and quite worried throughout their first day back, and their anxiety was not at all lessened by the rather heavy workload that they were assigned, despite the fact that it was their first day back.

As they set to working on their homework, an owl arrived, and began tapping on the window. Thinking it to be news of their friends, for it was an unfamiliar owl, Ron quickly unlatched the window and untied the letter attached to the owl.

To his dismay, it was NOT news about his friends.

Instead, it was an official summons to Gringotts.

_Mr. Ronald Weasley,_

_ Recently, the Betrothal Contract between the Houses of Weasley and Greengrass was activated by magic. House Greengrass, the other party in this contract, has requested a meeting to be held on the 12__th__ of January at 0900 hours. Please arrive promptly, so that the details of the meeting can be revealed, and both parties can discuss the terms and ramifications of said details. _

_May your gold ever flow,_

_ Rippleclaw_

_ Gringotts Senior Contract Manager_

Neville and Hermione had crowded around, and had read the letter over Ron's shoulder. While disappointed that it wasn't news about their friends, it was nonetheless extremely important.

Hermione, mystified by how Daphne had managed to set up this meeting before they left for the States, voiced her questions aloud.

Neville shrugged. He was more interested in what she had to say that couldn't be said at school.

Ron asked, "What exactly does this entail? Why do I have to go to this meeting? What does it mean by "details?"

Neville looked surprised that Ron didn't know.

"Evidently, they might have found a way to break off the contract, or they want to change some terms inside the contract."

Ron looked shocked. The contact could be broken off?

"Will there be a penalty if the Greengrasses break it off?"

"Only if they violate the contract." Neville said simply, rubbing his leg where he'd fell while walking back from Hagrid's hut a day ago.

Hermione, who had only limited knowledge of Wizarding marriage contracts , merely listened. She wasn't too interested in the contract. Ever since she'd gotten together with Neville, she'd put it to the back of her mind. Ron and Daphne definitely wouldn't get together. She'd known that ever since the first meeting between the two back in Florean's son's shop.

"I wonder if Harry's doing alright." She said, changing the topic.

"He'll be fine. He always seems to emerge from a dangerous situation fine, you know?" Ron said, absolutely convinced by Harry's ability to seemingly emerge alive out of even the most hopeless of situations.

Neville wasn't so sure, and voiced his own worries.

"They don't even know what happened. They're literally rushing in blind…"

As it turned out, Neville was right to worry.

**oOo**

Death smiled in triumph. He'd finally cornered his master.

"Hello, Master." He said with confidence. It would finally be over. Nobody controlled Death.

Daphne was looking both bewildered and fearful. Who was this man? How did he manage to disarm both of them without a weapon or uttering a single incantation?

"Is this what you have been reduced to, Death? Hiring a mere mortal to kill me?"

Death smirked at him. "Well, obviously, due to some ancient laws, I am not allowed to kill my own master. So I hired Samantha here to do it for me."

Samantha raised her wand, but Harry cried, "Wait!"

Samantha, curious as to what the boy wanted to say, slowly lowered her wand. Death looked furious that she'd waited, but there wasn't much he could do.

"Let the others go. The only one to die today is myself. Isn't that right, Death? You have the ability to change the Fate of only ONE soul, and you chose me. So let the others go."

Death grudgingly accepted this. It was true, if he killed the two girls now, Fate would be bitching to him about it for millennia, and get her revenge sometime in the future. That in itself was going to give him quite a headache.

"Very well, _Master_." He said spitefully, before waving his hand carelessly.

The ropes and chains binding Tracey fell away, and she slowly sat up, rubbing her arms to get the circulation running, before turning to Harry and looking at him desperately.

"NO Harry. You can't do this. I'll die with you, or we're all getting out of this together."

Daphne voiced practically the same thing, and Harry sighed.

"It has to be me. Daphne, take Tracey and get out of here." Harry said, and then, almost as an afterthought, he leaned over and pressed a piece of parchment into Daphne's hands.

"Here. I promised that I'd try to find a way to get you out of the Marriage Contract. Take this with you and go. I need to face this myself."

Daphne, pocketing the piece of parchment, wrapped her arms around Harry in a hug. Tracey joined the two, and Harry felt that even if he died today, he'd die knowing that there were people he loved and cared about. He'd saved them. He'd die with no regrets.

After they broke apart, Harry turned to their two captors and said, "Give them back their wands."

Death, shrugging, tossed the wands that he had at Daphne, while Samantha slowly removed Tracey's wand from a bag in the corner and gave it back. While she was by no means regretting her decision, it _was_ quite touching, their farewell. It reminded her of her very first husband, whom she had once loved.

Samantha banished that thought from her head. Now was not the time to become weak.

Meanwhile, Harry knew that Daphne and Tracey might do something stupid like try to cast a spell and rescue him, so he gave them a meaningful look and gestured to the door.

His message was pretty clear. Go while you still can.

With tears in their eyes, they left reluctantly, disappearing through the door. Harry watched them go, and then turned to meet his fate.

Death smiled. This was it. He'd finally be free.

**oOo**

** Credit to my IRL friend: Sera (PENNAME: winchesetr) for providing me with inspiration for both this chapter and on how to end the story.**

** Yes folks, this story is drawing to a close. Don't worry, there's still a few chapters left. I thank you all for your support so far. You guys are all awesome!**

**EDIT: (7-26-2014 2:46 P.M. EST) Chapter 26 IS UP! If you did not receive an update, that's because I posted it so quickly that Fanfiction didn't alert you guys again that it is up. Although, you probably can tell, since it is at the bottom of the page.**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 26**

** While this story may be ending soon, I **_**do**_** have an idea for another one…**

** Enjoy Chapter 26**

**oOo**

Harry turned and faced Death. He knew this was it. His luck had finally run out. Still, he looked forward to meeting his parents again. He looked forward to seeing Sirius, Remus, Tonks, even Dumbledore. All the people that had fought and died for him would be waiting for him on the other side of the Veil. So, he faced Death calmly, and with a smile on his face. Unknowingly, he was embracing Death in the same way that his ancestor, Ignotus, had once done, thousands of years ago.

"Well, this is it." He said, staring at Samantha.

"Go on. Kill the boy." Death said. He wanted to be free as soon as possible.

Samantha hesitated. Really, it should've been easy. There were so many ways of killing a human being. Still, the look on Harry's face, and the love that the two girls had shown Harry, had made her remember parts of her past that she had buried away. She'd nearly forgotten what love felt like. She'd never had a particularly loving relationship with Blaise, as his father was just another one of her conquests.

She'd been so full of grief and bitterness at her husband's death, mainly because he had contracted a _curable_ disease. Dragonpox, while a dangerous disease, was not incurable. The major problem was that, at the time, both Samantha and her husband were quite poor. Her husband hadn't inherited much from his father, and Samantha was the third daughter in her family and fifth child overall, meaning she got little to nothing from inheritance.

She'd resolved to never be poor again. If one had money, one could control the world. She'd seen the doctors fawn all over the rich patients, while her husband was treated negligently. Ever since, she'd made it her mission to make as much money as possible. She'd always been good at stealth and potion-making when in school, and she turned those talents into being an assassin. Quickly gaining notoriety, she made many acquaintances with people on the shadier side of the law, who paid her vast sums for her assassinations. As her reputation continued to grow, she made more and more money.

She also took advantage of her breathtaking beauty in order to trap men and take their money. She kept all her memories of her one true husband in the back of her mind. She didn't need to be distracted by old memories when she was trying to seduce other men.

Now, on the brink of her most successful contract, she was hesitating. She didn't know why, but there was something about Harry Potter that was incredibly disarming. It brought back old memories.

Could she really kill him? After he'd done so much? When there were people who loved him, and wanted him to go back?

Was the money really worth it? After all, she had more than enough money already to live quite comfortably.

Death, noticing the hesitation, and the uncertainty in Samantha's eyes, tried to galvanize her into action. It proved to be a terrible mistake.

"Kill the boy, already. Remember your reputation, Samantha! You never fail! Do you really want to be ruined by this… this boy?"

That was the wrong thing to say. Samantha didn't give a rat's ass about her reputation. It was only there to serve the purpose of earning more money.

She knew what she had to do. She'd done a lot of unsavory things in her life. Still, she knew that this act was not something that she could bring herself to do.

Samantha lowered her wand, and turned towards Death.

"No. Kill him yourself, Death. You are, after all, the incarnation of Death. So use those powers of yours, and kill him."

Death shrieked with rage.

"You'll pay for this Samantha Zabini. After I'm finished with the boy, you'll be dead."

Samantha wasn't scared. She missed her husband. She even knew that she'd wronged Blaise all these years. She needed to make amends. Dying was fine, in fact it was welcomed. She had no one left to talk to on this plane anyways.

Death, meanwhile, lunged at Harry, who stood his ground, still shocked at how events had gone, but willing to take what Samantha Zabini had given him. When he did so, he forgot one important factor. Harry was his Master. And therefore, he could not be harmed by Death himself.

Death's hands passed straight through Harry's neck, and he emitted an agonizing scream, before withdrawing, cursing up a storm. His attempt on Harry's life had placed him in unimaginable pain, similar to the Cruciatus.

Death turned on Samantha, who had been looking on at the action, staying out of all confrontation.

"You're the reason for this." Death said through gritted teeth. He charged straight at the woman who'd he entrusted to finish off his Master.

Samantha stood there calmly, a faint smile on her face. She nodded once to Harry, before turning to face Death.

Death's hands wrapped around her neck, but she didn't struggle. Her expression could only be described as "at peace."

Samantha knew, as the world darkened, and a bright light appeared far off in the distance, that she'd be seeing her beloved husband once more. She'd finally get to see him after all these years.

"I'm coming, Andrew. I'll see you soon." She said quietly, almost as if in a trance.

As Harry watched the light die from Samantha's eyes, he was galvanized into action. He lunged forward and grabbed Death's arms, and struggled to pull him off.

When that failed, Harry ordered in a loud voice, remembering that he was the Master of Death, "Release her!"

Death, however, merely laughed bitterly.

"How naïve of you, Harry Potter. You must have the items that bound me to you to control me."

Samantha Zabini slumped to the ground, motionless. Death released her and stood up, turning to face Harry.

"I'll find someone else to come after you, Harry Potter. Mark my words, you'll wish you died today."

Suddenly, a new voice said, "That's enough, brother."

In a flash of light, Fate appeared.

Death looked shocked that his sister had decided to take a mortal form and arrive in the real world.

"What are you doing here, sister?" he said, eyes wide with surprise, while his brain raced, trying to figure out just why she was here.

"You had the power to change the Fate of one person. You have just done that." She said, indicating the rapidly cooling body of Samantha Zabini.

"It's time to come home, brother. You can no longer interfere in the affairs of young Harry Potter here. Come with me, or you'll have Father to answer to." She said sternly, holding out her hand.

Death was livid, but he knew better than to antagonize their father. With one last hate-filled look at Harry, he took his sister's proffered arm.

"I am sorry, Harry Potter. I hope that Destiny will treat you better after this." Fate said, smiling proudly at the young man who'd managed to beat her little brother.

Harry didn't share her sentiment, but bowed all the same. As the two deities disappeared in a flash of light, Harry sank to the ground, suddenly feeling exhausted by the whole ordeal.

He crawled over to Samantha Zabini's side, and gently closed her eyes. He had no idea why she'd decided against killing him. Still, he owed her his life. Despite all the despicable things she'd done, she had, in the end, saved him. He bowed his head in respect, before slowly getting up. He had no wand, which was unfortunate. As he was wondering how in the name of Merlin was he going to get out of here without magic, when he noticed a small parcel in the corner of the room that definitely hadn't been there before.

When he opened it, he gasped in shock. Inside, lay an old, wand.

Somehow, the Elder Wand was here. Attached was a note.

_Mr. Harry Potter,_

_ I'm truly sorry for my brother's actions. I know that you must be in a hurry to get back to Britain. I took the liberty of removing the wand from its resting place in order for you to return quickly. The wand is capable of international Apparition. I only ask one thing of you. When you reunite with the two girls who each hold a portion of your heart, choose wisely, but above all, choose what your heart tells you. I will ensure your happiness._

_ With my most sincere apologies,_

_ -Love_

Harry was quite shocked by now from all the events of the day. Apparently, he garnered a lot of attention from the deities that formed the emotions and events of life.

Rereading the letter again, he thought about Tracey and Daphne. He thought about their personalities, their faces, and every single moment he'd spent with them.

And he knew, he just knew, who he would have to choose.

**oOo**

Tracey and Daphne were quite distraught when they arrived in Professor McGonagall's office, having Flooed in from the British Ministry of Magic following their arrival via Portkey.

They explained everything that had happened to the old witch, who sat down hard in her armchair due to a mixture of shock, grief, and anger.

After controlling herself, although not without a few tears, she quietly asked the two girls who it was that was responsible for murdering one of her favorite students from all her years working at the prestigious school.

"Samantha Zabini." Daphne spat out the name as if she was the worst person in the history of the Wizarding World, which, at the moment to Daphne, she was.

Daphne still remembered the way that Harry had stared at her, right before they'd gone charging in like a couple of Gryffindors on their rescue mission. The way that he'd kissed her, and the love she could've sworn she saw in his eyes.

She knew that he would've been hers, if she'd only been less of an idiotic Gryffindor and charged in there without thinking.

"Good Lord." Professor McGonagall said, putting her hand on her heart.

"I suppose it's not too far of a stretch of the imagination for her to be behind the murder of Mr. Zabini?" the old witch asked, closing her eyes, hoping against hope that she was wrong.

"She was, Professor. She told us straight that she was the one who killed him." Tracey sobbed.

Tracey was recalling all the times that she and Harry had spent together. The special moments they'd shared, the love she felt for him. She'd known all along that he'd come charging in to save her, and he did, sacrificing himself so that she'd be able to get away.

No wonder the boy had gotten himself placed in Gryffindor.

Professor McGonagall sighed heavily, tears sliding down her face.

"Excuse me, Ms. Greengrass, Ms. Davis. I must make an announcement to the staff. I know that once this news gets out, the Ministry will want a full inquiry. I hope you are prepared for it."

Tracey and Daphne nodded. They knew that it had to be done.

Professor McGonagall bade them goodbye as they left her office, before heading off to the staff room. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that Harry Potter could be dead.

**oOo**

It was a testament to how serious the situation was, and how grief-stricken Daphne was, that she didn't even say anything or turn away when she saw Ron with the other Gryffindors, who were all sitting together at a table.

Neville was the first to catch sight of the two girls. He pointed them out to his friends, and they all turned towards the girls.

They all could see that something was wrong. First, Harry was not with them. Second, the two girls looked quite battered and broken, and they also appeared to be crying.

They all looked at each other, with a sinking feeling in their stomachs. They dreaded the girls' arrival.

Sure enough, when the two girls arrived at their table, they told the rest of their friends what had happened.

Ron shouted, "No! No way! He CAN'T be dead."

Thankfully, Hermione had had the sense to cast "_Muffliato_" around them. Still, she was stricken with grief, and began sobbing into Neville's shoulder, who put an arm around her. He himself was quite shocked that Harry was dead.

Harry was the guy who'd made him feel accepted in a group for the first time. He'd hung around Seamus and Dean in the past, but it never felt as if he was truly a part of the their group. He'd always been somewhat of an outcast in Gryffindor House, especially considering how many points he lost due to various Potions accidents. Although he did make up for it somewhat by his exceptional performance in Herbology, he was widely regarded as little better than a Squib. Even well-meaning, kind, Gryffindors like Katie Bell had still made him feel insecure, unsure of his abilities, and insignificant in the face of all of his peers' achievements. Katie herself had been an excellent Chaser, and had just begun what looked like a successful career in law after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Harry had, by accepting him into his group, and allowing him to show off his abilities, helped him develop both a sense of self-worth, and introduced him to Hermione, a very special girl.

And now he was gone. The enormity of the loss hadn't sunk in yet, and probably wouldn't for a long time.

It was good that Hermione had cast privacy wards around themselves as well. After all, it wouldn't do for other students to see war heroes and the Slytherin Ice Queen crying.

After they had somewhat composed themselves, the five friends made their way through the corridors, walking aimlessly. They had no real purpose, and were just walking along because they needed something to do. Sitting in the library had become unbearable. Along the way, Daphne slipped away into the bathroom, remembering the slip of paper Harry had given her before they'd left him in that accursed dungeon to die.

With trembling fingers, she opened the piece of parchment, and found it to be an official Gringotts notice. She read through it, hands shaking, as she realized what Harry had done for her.

_Mr. Potter,_

_ Due to the transfer of certain items of value into the Ministry's vault, you have successfully secured a meeting with the Ministry's Department Head of Magical Customs, of which Marriage Contracts are a branch. We have also, as you requested, hired one of the premier lawyers of London, who says that he is ready to fight the case for Ms. Daphne Greengrass in the case of the Betrothal Contract made between House Weasley and House Greengrass at precisely 9:48 A.M. on July 12, 1794. The meeting will be held on the 12__th__ of January, at precisely 0900. Please inform Ms. Greengrass to arrive on time, so that details may be hammered out on how the Contract may be annulled._

_ May your gold ever flow,_

_ Ragnok_

_ Bank Director_

Attached to the official statement from Gringotts was a handwritten note from Harry. It looked quite hurried, as the handwriting was far from neat.

_Daphne,_

_ I promised that I'd try to annul your marriage. Jonathan Sommerset is a very good lawyer. He should be able to wrangle a way out of the contract. I also…persuaded the Ministry to support your side of the argument. It should be enough to get out of the contract._

_ I love you, Daphne, never doubt that. I don't know if we'll both make it through this rescue mission alive. If I'm gone, please don't get hung up on me. Life's too short. I'll always remember you, and I'll always think about what could have been._

_ With love,_

_ Harry_

Daphne sank to the stone floor, crying harder than ever. He'd done it. Harry had, possibly, given her a way out of the contract. He'd done it without asking for anything.

It was just, just awful that he wasn't around anymore. Daphne wasn't sure if she could manage to fulfill his last request. How could she be happy without him? How could she live with herself, knowing that she'd left the one who'd saved her, who'd loved her, to die alone?

It wasn't until much later when Daphne managed to compose herself. Casting a few charms on herself, and applying a little more makeup than she was used to, allowed herself to conceal her puffy, red eyes from prying eyes. It should hold up to anything other than close scrutiny.

She found the rest of her friends sitting together at the Gryffindor Table in the Great Hall, as dinner was about to start. Professor McGonagall had announced an impromptu Feast, but it wasn't a festive occasion.

Judging by the black drapes that decorated the Great Hall, Daphne knew that it was about Harry. The rest of the students were confused as to what the drapes were for, but they would soon find out as Professor McGonagall made her announcement.

"Students, today, I called this feast to commemorate one of our students. You may or may not have noticed, but Harry Potter is not with us today. He will no longer be with us."

At this, the Hall burst into yells, screams of disbelief, and all other expressions of shock, anger, and grief. The hero of the War with Voldemort had died? How was that possible?

After McGonagall had finally silenced the students with a few firecrackers, she continued, her face somber.

"I regret to announce that he died valiantly in a rescue mission in the United States. He was murdered by an old foe. I regret to say that that is all the information that I have about his death. Today, we commemorate his achievements, his leadership that freed us of tyranny. Today, we remember his legacy."

At this, McGonagall bowed her head, and the rest of the students followed suit. Some were crying, others just sitting there with a shocked expression on their faces. A few diehard supporters were secretly pleased, but they still respected the Boy-Who-Lived enough to be silent.

The whole Hall was silent. Every single students' head was bowed.

Which is why people heard, rather than saw, the Great Hall doors burst open, revealing a dripping wet, exhausted, Harry Potter.

**oOo**

** Alright, so this chapter came so quickly because I was both inspired, and I felt bad about that last cliffy.**

**Also, I have no idea if Fanfiction says I updated. So, if you think you're missing anything, do go back and read Chapter 25. It's important.**

** Thank you for reading. Please review.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX Chapter 27**

** Again, Fanfiction did not say that I posted Chapter 26. So if you feel like something's missing, then please do go and check that you read all the chapters.**

** Oh and I forgot to mention this last chapter, but "Jonathan Sommerset" was a name that was suggested by James Spookie. So credit where credit is due.**

** Enjoy Chapter 27**

**oOo**

The whole Great Hall was shocked. It was completely silent for five seconds, as people processed what their eyes were telling them.

Even Professor McGonagall, who was usually the quickest to react to any situation, sat there, mouth gaping with shock at the sight of Harry Potter.

Then, the roar of over a thousand students, with shouts of "HARRY!", "HE'S ALIVE!"

Harry Potter smiled. It was almost the exact same reaction as the time when he'd revealed himself to be alive before fighting Voldemort in their final, fated battle.

The students all crowded around him, asking various questions, and Harry just smiled serenely. He'd learned a long time ago that answering questions would be both useless, time-consuming, and quite exhausting.

He was already quite exhausted, and all he really wanted was to see the two girls that had stolen a piece of his heart, and his best friends.

Professor McGonagall came hurrying through, quickly followed by Madam Pomfrey.

"Mr. Potter! We all believed that you were dead. Are you alright?"

Harry smiled back at the old witch, "I'm alright, Professor. I just went through… a bit of an ordeal, and I'm quite exhausted."

Madam Pomfrey hurried forward, and seized Harry by the wrist.

"Come along now. Hospital Wing. I need to do a full-body scan to make sure that you don't have any internal injuries."

Harry groaned, but allowed himself to be led away by the insistent medi-witch. After all, he'd been through this scenario quite often throughout his years at Hogwarts, and he had no wish to be on the receiving end of any nasty hexes.

He was stripped of his drenched, freezing, Muggle clothing, and given hospital clothing to wear. He changed behind a screen, and as he came around the screen, he was attacked by his friends and girlfriend-girlfriends.

Harry fell backwards onto the bed prepared for him with a loud "Ooof!", and groaned, "Can't breathe."

Slowly, the girls extricated themselves, and Harry got to see Neville and Ron's grinning, relieved faces.

"What happened? Didn't that horrible woman kill you?" Tracey asked.

Ron was confused.

"What horrible woman?"

Tracey waved away his question.

"Samantha wasn't all that she seemed to be. She saved my life in the end." Harry said quietly, remembering the woman's last actions. He'd never be able to truly accept the fact that she killed many people for money, and that her own son died in her hands. However, he still felt indebted to her for her actions.

"Samantha? As in Samantha Zabini?" Ron asked incredulously. He was feeling a little annoyed at being left out.

Daphne was just sitting off to the side, staring at Harry's face. She wanted to kiss him so badly, but that couldn't happen, especially with Tracey back.

Still, Harry was back. That was all that mattered. It didn't matter that he might be a taken man, but as long as he was alive, she had a chance. There was a possibility, no matter how slim, that in the end, he'd be with her.

Just then, Madam Pomfrey arrived, and shooed them away. Neville, Ron, and Hermione, seeing that Harry was fine, told him that they'd see him the next day, and that they had a lot of homework to get done. They left for the Gryffindor Common Room, leaving Daphne and Tracey sitting on a far bed away from Harry while Madam Pomfrey fussed over him.

Daphne turned to Tracey and took a deep breath. Now was as good of a time as any to come clean about her betrayal.

"Tracey, there's something I have to tell you." Daphne said seriously, brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Tracey, who'd been staring at Harry, turned around to look at her best friend.

"What's the matter, Daph?"

"Tracey, please, please don't be mad, but I've come to love Harry in the period of time that you were gone." Daphne said, bracing herself for the explosion.

Tracey, however, was expecting these words. She'd known, almost as soon as Harry and Daphne had burst through that iron door into the dungeon to save her, that there was something between Harry and Daphne.

"It's alright Daphne. I'm not going to hold it against you. Looking back, I should've known all along that you had a crush on Harry. You were avoiding him, and you were…almost scared to talk to him right up to the Christmas holidays. I know that it isn't your fault, and neither is it Harry's." she said, smiling reassuredly at her best friend.

Daphne was shocked, and was mentally cursing herself for being that obvious in her behaviour before the holidays. She couldn't believe that she'd _avoided_ Harry. That was literally like raising a placard that screamed "I have a CRUSH on you!"

"Um… So you're not angry with me?" Daphne said quietly.

Tracey shook her head.

"I'm not angry with you or Harry. Besides, I can see that you love him a lot. I'm really sorry about the contract, Daph." Tracey said. She hated the fact that her best friend was tied down to someone, despite the fact that the Weasley had been…rather pleasant… in the past couple of days.

"He did it, Trace. He managed to find a really good lawyer, and he bribed the senior official who took care of the Marriage Contracts. I think he might've actually managed to get me out of it."

Tracey looked surprised, then hugged her friend.

"That's great! When are you going to Gringotts?"

"In about a week. Do you want to come?" Daphne asked.

"Of course. I'll be there so long as McGonagall lets me. I probably missed a lot of schoolwork."

Daphne's eyes widened. She'd forgotten about how much work they must have missed.

She cursed under her breath, but just then, Madam Pomfrey announced that Harry was absolutely fine. However, she said that she _would_ be keeping him in the Hospital Wing.

After she'd retired to her office, Tracey and Daphne approached Harry's bed, who smiled awkwardly at the two of them. This was it, he thought. He'd have to make his decision.

Really, he wished he could split himself in two. He wanted to be with both of them, but he refused to even consider the idea of taking one of them as a mistress. They both deserved someone who loved them, and would lavish all their attention on them.

Tracey smiled.

"I won't be mad whoever you choose, Harry. I love you. We had a great two months together. I'll always remember all the things we did together. You pulled me out of my Post-War depression, and I'm thankful for that."

Harry smiled weakly at her.

"Tracey—I… I don't know. I love both of you equally. I'm going to need a few days to think about it. I don't want to rush this decision…" Harry said uncertainly.

Daphne also smiled at him. It was still strange, but absolutely wonderful to see Daphne smile. Back when she was the Ice Queen, she looked like verifiable doll. Now, it was…truly amazing to see her express her emotions. She was so much more beautiful when she was smiling, crying, or even angry.

"Harry, even if you don't succeed in annulling the contract, I'm still yours. I'll be yours forever. Whether it's now or it's in thirty years, I'll be waiting for you."

Harry gulped. That just made his decision a whole lot harder.

**oOo**

Harry had taken the week to really think hard about his decision. Today, however, another matter was a more pressing issue.

He was wearing his best robes, as well as Ron, who had also been summoned. They were all to report to Gringotts, where the contract would be negotiated, and hopefully annulled.

Ron had, surprisingly, taken the news quite well when Harry had approached Ron and told him that he'd tried to get the contract annulled. This was because Ron's relationship with Lavender had really blossomed into something special, and Ron was actually beginning to think that the contract should be annulled, instead of just wanting Daphne for her beauty.

They all arrived at Gringotts at precisely 9:00 in the morning. There, a goblin escorted them into an inner meeting room within Gringotts, where the Ministry official, the lawyer, Jonathan Sommerset, that Harry hired, and Ragnok were all waiting.

The proceedings were long and tedious, and there were many attempts to find something within the contract that would allow it to be annulled.

The Ministry official seemed to be the only one against annulment, as he was the one who refused to annul the contract unless they could find an acceptable loophole.

In reality, the Ministry official simply couldn't annul the marriage without good reason. He'd suffer serious consequences if he did that.

Finally, after hours of scouring the rules of the contract, Jonathan Sommerset face-palmed, as he'd realized that he was too focused on how to prevent the marriage happening. He hadn't taken into account the fact that the marriage could be annulled AFTER the marriage had occurred. He brought the idea out onto the table.

"Ms. Greengrass, Mr. Weasley, there is a very simple solution to this problem. You get married, and then Mr. Olgsby," he indicated the Ministry official, "will just annul it after the marriage occurs. The contract only stated that it _had_ to be fulfilled, but there was no clause stating that the marriage had to be eternal."

Daphne, while not looking particularly happy that she had to marry Weasley, was elated that she would not be tied down to Weasley forever. Even though Ron had slowly changed, he still wasn't someone that Daphne loved. On the other hand, Ron was ecstatic that he'd be able to be with Lavender, and thanked Mr. Sommerset profusely.

Thus, it was settled that they would marry in a private ceremony, and then Mr. Olgsby, the Ministry official, would annul the marriage.

Ragnok, who'd watched the proceedings with mild amusement, now called the meeting adjourned, and escorted the wizards out.

Outside, Daphne, Ron, and the rest of the students thanked Mr. Sommerset and Mr. Olgsby for their time, before parting ways.

Harry, Ron, Daphne, Neville, Hermione, and Tracey grabbed a quick treat from Florean Fortescue's son's ice cream parlour, before heading back to school. The setting brought back a vague sense of déjà vu, as this was where they'd truly met.

It was quite late by the time they arrived at Hogwarts, as they'd spent most of the day in Diagon Alley.

The students split up along House lines and each headed towards their own dorms, except Harry. Harry was dragged off by Daphne and Tracey, and Ron, who'd finally gotten over his jealousy, laughed along with the others when Neville made a particular comment on what Harry could possibly be getting up to with the two girls.

Meanwhile, Daphne had, quite literally, assaulted Harry, thanking him for everything he'd done.

Harry smiled at her, saying, "Calm down, Daphne. I'd do it for anyone."

Tracey, meanwhile was sitting nearby on a desk.

"So, Harry, have you made a decision?"

Harry sighed. He'd been racking his brains the past few weeks, thinking about who he'd truly want to spend the rest of his life with. He remembered the letter that Love had left him, back in the dungeon.

'_Choose what your heart tells you._'

Harry knew what his gut was telling him. There was a reason he'd gone out of his way to annul the marriage contract for Daphne. While he would've done that for anyone, he would not have gone all out as he'd done for Daphne.

He knew, deep inside, that there was an ulterior motive for annulling the contract.

He needed to come clean now. He needed to tell Daphne and Tracey his decision. He owed to them both.

So Harry spent the next half hour coming clean about everything that he'd felt for the two of them over the past few months, and how it all culminated to the Christmas holidays, where he believed he found someone he loved.

After he finished, Daphne's eyes were shining with joy, while Tracey was incredibly happy for her friend, despite feeling a tinge of disappointment and bitterness.

Still, during her time in the States, she'd really come to enjoy the company of her family there. In fact, she was planning on moving back to the States after the school year was over in order to be closer to her family. She knew that Harry would probably not want to move to the States, even though he'd do it for her.

It was for the best, she told herself. She still loved Harry, but he would be happier here, with Daphne. Daphne too, would be happy. She was a far cry from the Ice Queen, and Tracey was happy to see Daphne come out of her shell, out from behind the walls and masks she'd hidden behind for so long. The fact that Harry was the one who did it was remarkable, and Tracey felt that if she had to give Harry up, she'd hope that Daphne could find her happiness with him. Which she evidently did.

Daphne looked apologetically at Tracey, almost as if she was afraid that she'd "stolen his man". Which she kind of did, but it was with Tracey' full blessing and support.

Tracey merely smiled. "Go on, Daphne. I know you wanted this. I'm happy for you. There's just one thing...you better invite me to the wedding." She smirked at Daphne's reaction to her last statement, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Seeing that Daphne was quite ready to "make the relationship official" with Harry, Tracey decided to back out here. She wished the best for her two friends.

After saying a soft "Goodnight." Tracey left them alone. After all, they were a new couple. They probably wanted some alone time.

As it turned out, Tracey was quite correct.

When Harry and Daphne finally emerged, over an hour later, their robes were rather messed up, and Daphne's normally impeccable hair and make-up were messy as well. They both looked thoroughly snogged.

They'd worked out everything in their relationship, and even somewhat planned out their future.

Harry, although it was difficult, knew that he'd made the right decision. His life was finally taking a turn for the better. Daphne made him the happiest he'd ever been. He had enough money to support himself and Daphne, and he would, hopefully, score well on the NEWTs and secure a good career for himself.

Daphne was thankful that she'd found someone who loved her for her personality, instead of her beauty. Harry had proven to her that not everybody wanted her for her looks or money. She'd finally, after eighteen years of searching, discovered love.

Together, they could create their own happy future.

**oOo**

**Wow. I never thought I'd get here. Anyways, thank you for sticking through the whole story (although there is, obviously, still the epilogue to go). It's been a pleasure to write this summer.**

**Epilogue should be up either today or Monday.**

**Thank you all for your support. You are all amazing. **

**Now, I will be writing more. Don't worry. However, I AM taking a three-week vacation from August 4-August 28. I might be able to write, I might not. We'll see what happens.**

**Acknowledgements: wisebeyondyears (beta), James Spookie (occasional advisor), winchesetr (providing some inspiration for the last few chapters).**

**I hope you enjoyed this little tale. As always, thank you for reading. Please review.**


	28. Epilogue

**Bleeding Red and Gold REDUX**

**The Epilogue**

** It's been real, people. **

** Enjoy the epilogue.**

**oOo**

_**(8 years later)**_

Twenty-six year old Harry Potter disliked human Transfiguration. It was an uncomfortable process, although somewhat eased by admiring his beautiful wife, Daphne Potter, as she bit her lower lip in concentration while waving her wand to alter his appearance.

He didn't particularly like the idea of having a large walrus-like moustache. It was quite irritating to handle, not to mention itchy. Most of the other alterations to his face were trivial. Still, the transfiguration would, hopefully, be enough to prevent the reporters to find them. They didn't want any unwanted attention, as they were about to visit someone very special.

Tracey Davis had, after graduation, moved back to the States. Harry, along with the rest of his friends, was quite sad that she would be leaving. Still, Harry knew that Tracey felt more attached to the States ever since visiting her relatives during that fateful Christmas of 1998.

They'd given her the best going-away party possible, and escorted her to the Ministry's International Portkey Departure area, where they watched their best friend disappear in a whirl of light when the appointed time came.

After that, they'd gotten little news. They knew that she was doing well, as she occasionally sent letters back. Still, international messages were quite inconvenient and very costly to send, not to mention the fifty percent chance of the letter being lost in transit. Harry and Daphne didn't know much about Tracey's life, and they'd lost contact in the past two years.

However, a few weeks ago, Tracey had sent another letter. This time, she'd invited them to the States, and she "wouldn't take no for an answer".

So, Harry and Daphne had made arrangements to go to the United States for only the second time in their lives. They left their son, James, who was now just approaching his second birthday, with Hermione and Neville, who were more than happy to care for their child, having had no children so far into their marriage.

Today, they'd be flying via Muggle transportation to the States. They'd take a two-week vacation there, visiting Tracey, before heading home once again.

Daphne was particularly excited about this trip, having not seen her best friend in over six years. However, they wanted to travel in secret. Hence, they were altering each other's appearances in order to be able to travel to the States incognito. This was why they decided to travel by Muggle airplane, as it held the lowest chance of a stray magical reporter finding them.

All this secrecy was mainly due to the fact that Harry was still quite famous in Magical Britain. In the eight years after Harry and Daphne's graduation, the media had covered their every move. In fact, after only a week of dating Daphne, the dreaded (in Harry's opinion) Teen Witch Weekly ran an article about the relationship, along with speculation about how long it had been going on. There were also rumors about whether or not there was any overlap with Harry's relationship with Tracey.

Harry ended up suing the newspaper after it went too far with its speculations. One article even stated that he was aiming to have two wives, and that Tracey had dumped him because she "wasn't that type of girl." He earned a substantial amount of money, but unfortunately, he'd had to endure the glares of all the young girls who'd heard of his lawsuit. That made a fairly awkward last few months of school, but at least he did well on the NEWTs, and now he had a successful career as a Senior Auror, primed to take over the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in a few years. It was a demanding job, but it paid well, and he still enjoyed the thrill and adrenaline of chasing down various Dark Lord wannabes.

Sometimes, Daphne would be quite worried about his health and well-being while she was waiting for him at home, but she loved him and supported him in his endeavors. She'd helped him manage their combined vast wealth.

Daphne's own career was going quite well. She'd secured her job as the Hogwarts Potions Mistress after "old Sluggy" retired at the age of one hundred years old. According to Professor McGonagall, she'd been doing "a superb job, the best Potions Mistress we've had in the past century."

Harry was quite happy and proud of his wife for her achievements, and they'd led a very happy life.

Daphne got pregnant in the January of 2004, and ended up taking the 2004-2005 school year off in order to take care of their baby. They'd named him James, after Harry's father. They loved him to death, even though he tended to get into a lot of mischief, even at the tender age of two.

Still, they would have to leave him behind for this trip to States. He was too young.

Daphne finished applying the last changes to his appearance, and as Harry stared at his own face in the mirror, he couldn't help, but be impressed by Daphne's work. Despite being no great shakes at Transfiguration, she'd done a superb job. Harry felt certain that nobody could recognize him for who he really was.

The two of them now just looked like a normal young couple going on a trip together. They collected their suitcases, and headed out the door, where their Muggle car that Harry had bought a few years ago was parked. Harry had learned how to drive almost as a pastime, and had gotten his license a couple years ago.

When they arrived at the airport, Daphne's eyes widened at the sheer number of people at the airport. Unconsciously, she moved slightly closer to Harry, whose arm automatically encircled her waist, pulling her closer.

They eventually checked their bags, and got through security without a hitch, although Daphne was quite surprised at the Muggle way of ensuring security.

She was, however, quite scared of the fact that what looked like a metal bird was going to somehow lift off and fly across an ocean. Harry kissed her softly, reassuring her, and reminding her that even if an accident happened, he had the Elder Wand, and he could Apparate the two of them out with no problems.

During the first hour of the flight, Daphne gripped the seat tightly, and her face was quite pale and drawn. Harry, who'd only been on a plane once in his life, was quite relaxed, and continuously reassured Daphne, who eventually fell asleep, snuggled in Harry's arms.

Harry couldn't remember much about airplanes. He'd only ever been on one when his aunt and uncle had taken him to Majorca after they could not find a single guardian willing to take care of him while they went on vacation.

Harry winced at that memory. He remembered being locked in the hotel room all day, with barely anything to eat. Thankfully, the hotel did provide some free Ramen noodles, or Harry was pretty sure that he would've starved during the two-week vacation the Dursleys took.

After a six-hour flight, they touched down in Dulles National Airport. Harry gently shook Daphne awake, who was reluctant to awake, as comfortable as she was in Harry's arms. They collected their luggage quickly, eager as they were to see their friend. After making it through customs, they each entered separate bathrooms and dispelled the various transfigurations they did on their face discreetly.

They exited out of the luggage claim area, and searched anxiously amongst the faces for a sight of their long-lost friend.

Suddenly, there was a shriek, and a brunette missile slammed into Harry, staggering him, and nearly causing him to fall down.

"HARRY!" she cried, hugging the Boy-Who-Lived so tightly that he nearly choked and looked at Daphne for help.

Smiling at their friend's antics, she gently tapped Tracey on the shoulder, and said, "Harry can't breathe."

Tracey released her bone-crushing grip, and Harry gasped, sucking air desperately into his lungs.

"It's…nice…to see…you…too, Tracey." He said, smiling despite the lack of air.

Tracey blushed, and turned to Daphne, giving her a gentler hug. As she stepped back, Harry and Daphne both took a good look at their friend, whom they hadn't seen for six years.

Tracey looked beautiful. She was wearing little makeup, but her long brown hair was brushed, and there was a certain shine to it. She'd grown curvier after she'd left, and now rivaled even Daphne in terms of beauty.

Daphne and Tracey immediately began catching up on everything that happened, and Tracey demanded to see pictures of little James, to which Daphne happily obliged. Harry watched the scene with amusement, before Tracey led them to a stranger that they'd never met before.

"Harry, Daphne, this is Peter Smith. He's my boyfriend of two years. Peter's a wizard who graduated from Salem University in the same year that we did over here in the States, and I met him three years ago. A couple years ago, he asked me out, and now here we are." She said, smiling at him.

Peter was feeling awed, slightly awkward, and a tinge jealous when he looked up at Harry and Daphne, who were smiling at him.

"Harry Potter." Harry said, extending a hand.

Peter took it, and said, "Peter Smith, but you can call me Pete."

Harry smiled. "Ok, Pete. So how's Tracey been?"

Pete had heard of stories from Tracey about Harry, and felt a tinge of envy that he was Tracey's first love. Still, he had the good sense to know that Harry was happily married to an absolutely gorgeous woman, so he obviously wasn't trying to compete for Tracey's affections.

"She's been doing well here. She recently got a promotion at the Ministry as well."

Just then, they heard a giggle, and turning towards the source of the noise, both men saw their respective girlfriend/wife whispering in each others' ears while surreptitiously looking back at them.

Harry frowned, recognizing the scene.

"Is it just me, or does it look like our shortcomings are about to be discussed at length here?" Pete wondered.

"My thoughts exactly." Harry said.

**oOo**

Later, Pete showed Harry around the house, and decided that, while the girls were downstairs catching up, to ask a few man-to-man questions to Harry.

"Harry, I've been wondering, just what was your relationship with Tracey?" Pete asked hesitantly, not sure if he should be asking such a question.

Harry paused, and turned to look at Pete seriously. After a moment, he gestured towards a few chairs.

"Well, we might as well take a seat. It's a rather long story." Harry said, sinking into one of the chairs.

Pete followed suit, keeping his attention on Harry.

"After I defeated Voldemort, whom I assume you are familiar with, I had very few true friends." Harry began.

"We do know about Voldermort." Pete said.

Giving a faint smile, Harry continued, "Half of the students at Hogwarts had left during the war and those that remained were subjected to curriculum that was very dark side oriented. Thus, the school felt that it was obligated to offer a 'repeat year' in order to make sure that the correct material was taught to all students. That year, I met Tracey. She asked me out to a party that one of the professors had, due to a passing interest she'd taken in me. We hit it off at the party, and we decided to start dating."

Here, Harry paused, and conjured a glass before pointing his wand at it and muttering, "_Aguamenti._"

Taking a drink of water, he continued, "We loved each other very much. I think that I didn't really know the depths of my feelings at the time. The relationship moved quickly, and it was some of the happiest times I'd ever known. Then, around Christmas, the school announced that there would be a Christmas Ball of sorts. Tracey had already planned to visit her family here in the States, so she wouldn't be able to go to the Ball. I ended up going with Daphne, and there was an instant connection. Meanwhile, as you probably know, Tracey was captured, and Daphne and I decided to rescue her. When we showed up, it was revealed that Tracey was bait, and that I was the one the captors wanted. I managed to bargain for Tracey and Daphne's life in exchange for my own. However, I managed to escape when the potential murderer didn't have the heart to do the deed."

Harry paused. This trip down memory lane was depressing him, and yet he felt that Pete had a right to know what had gone on between Harry and Tracey. Thus, he soldiered on.

"I thought long and hard for several weeks. I didn't know who I'd choose. I loved both Tracey and Daphne equally. In the end, I think Tracey's decision was what swung my decision. Tracey wanted to return here to the States. I wanted to stay in Britain, and Daphne felt the same way. I have never regretted my decision since then, and now I'm happily married to Daphne." Harry finished, mouth dry after such a long story. He took another drink, as Pete tried to process everything that he'd been told.

There was still one thing that bothered him.

"You loved Tracey, right?"

"Very much, yes." Harry agreed, seeing where this conversation was going.

"Do you still have feelings for her?" Pete asked bluntly.

Harry smiled at him. "You have nothing to fear, Pete. My romantic feelings for Tracey are in the past. Daphne is the only person that I love in the romantic sense. She is the center of my existence. Tracey has become a very good friend."

Pete nodded. It was nothing less than he'd expected. After all, the Boy-Who-Lived did not strike him as at all promiscuous.

"Well, I'm sorry for interrogating you, Harry. Let's go downstairs, shall we? I'm curious as to what the girls are talking about."

Harry smiled. "It's fine, Pete. I understand why you worry. As for the girls, I'm sure that they are just discussing whatever it is that girls discuss."

Over the next two weeks, Harry and Daphne enjoyed the company of their old friend and her boyfriend. Pete proved to be quite a good Quidditch player, and Harry and Pete flew sometimes in a nearby Disillusioned Public Flying Area. Daphne and Tracey caught up on every tidbit of information that they'd missed in their time apart.

When the two weeks were over, it was a rather tearful farewell. However, the sadness was somewhat alleviated by the fact that both Tracey and Pete had plans to return to Britain one day. Even though it wouldn't be immediate, they would return eventually.

As Harry and Daphne, with glamours and transfigurations on, walked through airport security after a last glimpse of their friends, they couldn't help, but thank whatever deity out there that had brought them together in their last year at Hogwarts.

And up above, somewhere, Love could be heard saying, "You're welcome."

**oOo**

** The epilogue probably isn't what most of you expected. I modeled it sort of after how J.K. did, writing a scene a few years later that explains the outcomes of the main characters. Since I was focused on the major three characters in this story: Harry, Tracey, and Daphne, I could not get to all the other characters (Ron, Lavender, Neville, Hermione, etc.) in the epilogue. For those who are curious, I offer a Septimus Heap-esque last few words. (If you have ever read that series, you will understand what I'm talking about):**

** Harry Potter/Daphne Greengrass:**

** Harry and Daphne spent the rest of the year getting to know each other well, and spending a lot of time in broom closets. It even got to the point that Harry was willing to cut studying for NEWTs in favor of spending time with Daphne. Finally, Hermione whipped his ass and got him back to studying. Harry as thanked her ever since.**

** As stated in the story, Harry is a successful Senior Auror who is widely considered to be the next Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.**

** Daphne Greengrass earned her Potions Mastery after two years of hard, dedicated work. After she earned her mastery, she really focused on her relationship with Harry, and they got married within six months. A couple years later, their first son, James was born. She is happily teaching Potions at Hogwarts, where she still maintains her Ice Queen reputation somewhat, hexing any male who looked at her in a perverse way (and there were quite a lot of them, for she really was gorgeous).**

** Tracey Davis:**

** A little over a year after graduation, Tracey moved to the United States. There, she met up with her aunt and uncle again, and lived with them in the beginning while she secured a career as an Ambassador to Foreign Ministries. For the first few years, she merely stayed at the Ministry and studied foreign laws and diplomacy. It was here that she met Peter Smith, a graduate of Salem who was looking to become a lawyer. They became good friends, and started dating a year after meeting each other. Now, they are planning to move back to Britain, as the Ministry is considering sending Tracey to Britain as their Ambassador to Britain. There has been no talk of marriage…yet.**

** Ronald Weasley/Lavender Brown:**

**Ron married Lavender two years after school. Ron had finally grown up with Lavender's influence, and he became a successful businessman, using capital he'd borrowed from Harry in order to invest in promising enterprises. After he'd earned himself some cash, he helped his brother, George, at the joke shop, and was made an equal partner by George for his contributions.**

**Lavender ended up becoming the senior editor for publications such as Witch Weekly and Teen Witch Weekly. After Harry's lawsuit against the paper, the paper's Board of Directors ordered a major investigation of all employees for accuracy, and many were fired. Lavender was one of many people hired, and she quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the senior editor for the paper. She is expecting her first child with Ron at the time of the epilogue.**

**Neville Longbottom/Hermione Granger:**

**Neville and Hermione decided to wait a while after school ended before getting married. Hermione spent over two years in Australia hunting down her parents, before lifting the Memory Charm. Unfortunately for Hermione, her parents did not fully recover from the effects of the Memory Charm and did not regain all their memories. They remembered Hermione, major dates, and major events in their life, but they often could not remember specific details about certain events. Still, Neville acted like a rock for Hermione during this period.**

**Neville himself sought and earned his Mastery in Herbology, going on to become the Herbology Assistant Professor to Professor Sprout at Hogwarts. He aspires to one day become the full-time Professor after Professor Sprout retires.**

**The Marriage Contract: Nobody ever figured out exactly what items had been traded between the Weasley and Greengrass families that resulted in the Contract. Daphne dug up enough information about the contract to know that they were incredibly rare potions ingredients for some sort of obscure potion that nobody knew about anymore. Even Professor Slughorn wasn't sure what the ingredients were supposed to do, although it was not wrong to say that the old Professor was going a bit senile at the time.**

**So it's done. The story is finally finished. Each and every one of you who reviewed, favorited, followed, or PMed me with suggestions/comments about the story, or in general just supported the story, are awesome, and I hope that you will continue to support my writing in the future.**

**This REDUX has been much more successful than I could have possibly dreamed. **

**It's been a pleasure, my friends.**

**-RAfan2421**


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